invisiblecompany

This is an important pic for 2 reasons: a) it’s my second new toy this week and b) it was taken on my iphone. Yep, i succumbed to the temptation and got myself a netbook. It was basically as simple as Car emailing me a Tigerdirect link and me saying go ahead. MSI Winds had been leading contenders in any case. I didn’t end up getting the u120 at the end, I got the u100 which is older but had more functionality like b/g/n wireless, bluetooth and faster upload speed. For just under $400 I get a 10” screen at 2.6lbs, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 3 usb ports, 4-in-1 card reader, neat. It even came with a case which is shiny plastic and kinda tacky and i won’t use it.

I’m writing this post on it, and typing is fine — I’d eliminated the Acer and the 9” Eees cos i was constantly making mistakes on the keyboard, this one is fine. I have my usual tabs open in firefox, and have been happily surfing on it.

I suffered through installing stuff on it — firefox and add-ons, itunes, mcafee, ccleaner, and bemoaned Window’s lack of userability when i found myself forgetting basic stuff. The ability to hackintosh was a deciding factor in the decision to go for the Wind. Will I end up making it dual boot? Probably, but i’m not in any hurry.

As to the second important event, this was the first pic taken with the iphone camera. I have to do a big shrug cos it’s pretty pedestrian, even for “just” a 3MP camera. It will be useful for taking disposable pics for twitter, that’s it. I can see myself embracing this new form of photography though. At the very least, expect even more food pics.

Even though it wasn’t exactly under my authority, I let the C&B team out this afternoon. There doesn’t seem to be any official rules (that i know of), but in practice people can leave when the market closed. So some of them left at 2.30pm, some left around 3pm. I had a conference call at 1pm, then I had to work on a document as a result of that call. But I was able to leave around 3pm too.

It’s the start of the long weekend. Yippee.

I can’t get away with just yesterday’s one line post about the iphone right? Of course not.

So, i’ve had 24 hours with it, is there anything new I can add to the millions of words already out there about the device? No, not really. All I want to do is add this: SQUEEEEEEEE!!!

In a way, I feel like I have 2 years of catching up to do. That I couldn’t be a part of the early adopter crowd, or the 3G excitement last year, only to partake vicariously. But, c’est la vie, I wasn’t living in the correct part of the world. Then again, I am glad that this is my first, that I won’t be holding onto a 2G or a 3G and wishing I can get a 3GS.

Early impressions:
pros — fast, fast, fast. apps. easy to use. easy to sync. apps. beautiful. great functionality (see that apps wall at WWDC this year?)
cons — my fingerprints are all over the screen! luckily i have one of those sticky protectors. and it’s a bit big for my pockets, especially when wearing work clothes, i probably need to get a holster.

Basically, I can see why Apple sold 1 million in the first weekend. I know i’m guilty of disdain / contempt at people who’ve recently jumped on the Apple bandwagon — that i’m no longer the anomaly with the cool computer — i guess it’s either swallow my pride and be one of the masses or get on another train. I suppose I could have gone the Gina Trapani Android route, if it were any manufacturer but Apple i may have. As it is, I’m seeing a long and mutually enjoyable relationship with my iphone(s). And I haven’t even been tempted to jailbreak it yet.

I went to the Apple Store after work and got my iPhone. Enough said.

The first Walkman was launched 30 years ago this week. Wow. I had one of those original monsters, and still have this 1987 WM-103 in my drawer.

The BBC asked 13 year old Campbell Scott to trade his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and his account made me feel old. OTOH, it’s amazing how much technology has advanced over the last 30 years, that he has absolutely no idea what a cassette tape is.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.

Oh my! Cassette tapes! I still have a couple of them at the bottom of drawers. Remember making mix tapes for friends and swapping them? Blah RIAA.

I love photographing food. All my friends, family and even colleagues know this. That I’m prone to taking out my camera and photographing what I’m eating, and even what they ordered. They indulge me, and treat it like an endearing idiosyncrasy rather than an annoyance.

So I was interested to read the comments on the Lifehacker article Photograph your food without being a jerk, that some people think it’s a fetish and don’t like it when other people photograph their food. The original discussion, on chow.com talked a little about the etiquette:

don’t take multiple shots from multiple angles, kneel on the banquette, or rearrange the table

Fine enough. I don’t understand the vitriol that non-food photographers have throw at food photographers. Especially at the higher end restaurants. One of the reasons I photograph my food is to remember the dish, so all the more reason that if i were to dine at a special restaurant, I’d want to remember it. I do agree, flash can be distracting, and no climbing all over the furniture.

Anyway, this is my entry for this week’s friday food fiesta, theme is pretty plating.

I hadn’t planned on having spare time this weekend, so I didn’t bring the mbp. *gasp* So when I find myself with spare time I naturally started missing it, or wishing I had a netbook. There does seem to be a huge netbook mania nowadays. I think there is a time and place for netbooks — as second computers for basic tasks only — but it seems that there’s already feature creep on these machines.

The majority of netbooks are Windows (mostly XP) and Linux. The nearest mac equivalent is the mba or the new 13” mbp. Both very attractive machines undoubtedly but not even I will want to spend $1200 or $1500 on a spare laptop. If I wanted a mac netbook I’d have to get a regular netbook and hackintosh it. I missed out the chance to get a hackintosh-perfect dell mini 9, even though I’m sure it’s available on ebay. I’m not saying I will necessarily hackintosh any netbook I get, but hackintoshability is one of the criteria. Luckily lots of people are also interested in this, and bb gadgets have been keeping track of the various netbooks in the market. So it looks like I’m getting the MSI Wind U120.

I went to a wake tonight, for the uncle of my adopted Chicago family. It was a very well attended event with lots of family and friends — it’s obvious that he was well liked and respected. I learned that he was a retired police captain, which I had sort of known before but not all the details.

It was almost 9pm when we left, and we got something to eat. Then after dinner, we were winding down — Car went to check email, I was getting ready for a shower. Then I heard a desperate scream. And it all happened at once. I’ll leave Car to update first in her blog, but the long and short of it was — ER, family support, we got home at 3.30am.

I ordered a chairmat and in/out trays from staples. On the website I could print and sign a “driver release form” so the driver can leave the goods on the porch. But they decided to use ups instead, and the driver left a card instead of the stuff! Anyway, I signed the release at the back of the ups card, and they were delivered today.

In other news, I had bought a new 26” tv over the weekend. I briefly thought about the $299 Dynex (Best Buy own brand) but finally went for the sony, which was $479. When I plugged it into the cable box, there was no signal. Argh. So I had to make an appointment with the RCN guy to come in. He said there’s something wrong with the HDMI port, but got me hooked up using component cables. I still get the hi-def channels, so i’m not bothered. I have 4 yr extended warranty, so I can take it back for repairs whenever I feel like it.

So today I went to City Hall to get the equivalent of a provisional driver’s licence, I think it’s called the instructional licence here. Passport, SSN, address proof and $10. The clerk asked if I have an existing licence from another state, to which I answered no, but I have from overseas (I actually have 4 licences). To which she asked “can you drive?” What was I supposed to say?

Anyway, there was a simple eye test, then the written test. I’d studied the Rules of the Road earlier, and did some practice online tests. I got all the questions and signs right, yay!

For all my other licences I just had to present my UK licence to convert. Of course Americans don’t trust UK, or Swiss, or HK, or International, so the next step is I have to go for a driving test. Good grief.

Over the weekend I was introduced to catalina dressing, which apparently is an old fashioned dressing made from ketchup, vinegar, worchestershire sauce, paprika. It’s really nice — tangy and light. There’s lots of recipes for it, but kraft makes it, there’s even a light version, and one with honey to make it sweeter. I tried it with a salad tonight and i’m totally converted, even though I never use dressing.

I went to Amber Benson’s signing of her book Death’s Daughter today. The event started at 4.30pm, but I got there after work at around 6pm. I could have brought a whole collection of her stuff for her to sign — Chance and LLL dvds, Chance poster (hmm, that one is already signed), my 2 limited edition Ghost of Albion hardcovers (hang on, those are signed too), or any of her comics. Or Buffy stuff. She’s got such a varied body of work. While I was queuing someone at the store asked me was there a signing. I said yes, and he asked who? He didn’t know Amber (travesty!) but I heard him tell his friend “it’s an author.” Little does he know she is more.

I guess there was a reading, which I missed. The queue for the book signing was long, snaking all the way to the back of the store. I wish I’d brought some water cos it was a hot day and I felt dehydrated. It took the better part of an hour. but it was all rewarded when i finally reached the front, because she was warm and friendly. She greeted every single person like a friend, and was genuinely happy to speak with each of us. I didn’t really have anything to ask or say to her, just asked her to sign my book, and another copy for Car.

I took a picture of her and the books. There’s also one with me, but I’m doing the hiding being invisible thing again so that pic isn’t available in public.

So I got home today after a weekend at Car’s, opened my mailbox and saw that my credit card has finally arrived. It’s been a long journey, and I feel like it’s only just beginning.

Which totally pisses me off.

I’m a good banking customer, I have a very, very healthy balance in my account. I also have credit cards all over the world. I use up a small % of my limit and I pay my balance in full each month.

But here’s the stickler — I have little to no credit history in the US. Who knows what is in my credit report, whatever is in there is from New York. 9 years ago. So basically, I don’t get the treatment that my history and bank balance warrant, and at times I feel like I’m having to prove myself to financial institutions. Ironic given where I work.

It’s easy to blame governments, Wall Street fat cats and irresponsible citizens who overspend. The true culprit is probably a combination. I don’t understand the mainly Western, and notably American, mentality of spending future money. Spend within your means and save as much as you can, that’s fundamental and common sense. There are so many stories about how people are affected by the financial crisis, and I feel a tiny bit of sympathy for some. But for most others, like this guy, I want to punch him in the face. It’s bad customers like him that are making me seem like a bad customer, and one of these days I’m going to get very cross.

I have a pending transaction at amex — I’m transferring my card over, but they seem to want to treat it like a new application. Let’s see how this one goes.

This is the weekend of the BIG shop. We went first to Target where I spent $180 on top of the $360 I spent a few weeks ago:

• floor lamp for living room — with 5 heads
• floor lamp for bedroom
• small step ladder
• extension cord
• swiss ball and mat
• bin with cover

After dinner we headed to Best Buy:

• Sony Bravia 26” TV for study - $480 plus $70 for 4 yr warranty
• iHome deck for iPod — this will take the place of my trusted clock radio - $99.99

I also bought a HDMI cable and iron from Walmart. Total spending for the day: $870.

Originally I’d wanted to go to the grant park music festival because a) I’ve never been; b) it’s free; c) it’s outdoors but mostly d) it’s Rach 3! But this morning there was a huge thunderstorm, I went out to the drugstore (1 block) and got completely soaked even with an umbrella. So no, I didn’t go to the concert.

feeling a bit sorry for myself, found myself with conjunctivitis today for no good reason. Not as bad as some cases, a bit painful, can’t really open my left eye comfortably. Doctor and eye drops came to almost $150. I need some optrex or some saline to wash my eyes, but obviously I don’t have them at home. Sigh.

Nice article in the NYT about core exercises. It reinforces what I’ve learned since I started the Getting Healthy program — sit-ups aren’t good for you, core means the whole core and great abs are made in the kitchen.

Anyway this is a video I found on the TDP forums that had me chuckling. So much bullshit has been perpetuated by bad personal trainers and inaccurate articles in fashion magazines. I don’t know what mua means but I guess this is a convo between someone who is in the know and the average gullible girl who believes everything she reads in Us magazine. I mean, she said “toned” — such a sure sign.

I’ve been playing with hunch, a new startup from Caterina Fake that

helps you make decisions and gets smarter the more you use it

What is it? It’s a “decision engine” — I ask it a question, it asks me several related questions, then it gives me answers based on my answers. There’s also a big list of 70+ questions that i can answer that educates hunch about me.

So far, hunch has told me I should get the iPhone 3GS and not the Palm Pre (like, duh); that if I were to visit London I should stay at the Blake; and that I should try deep water aerobics as a fitness program. The last one is, well, pretty inaccurate — and I get a chance to disagree. It’s still a work in progress, there are not so many questions, but it’s fun.

I ran to the lake and back tonight after work. Oh boy, it’s such a great route, I’m at the lake in just over 2km (10mins) and the path is perfect — wide, good surface, not too many people. All in all 5.25km. Mapped the route at run.com so I had a sense of distances. I can see me doing 10km up and down the lakefront easy.

[facebook readers: click on “view original post” to see pics]

 

Midsommarfest is:

one of Chicago’s most unique street fairs. Born out of Andersonville’s Swedish heritage, Midsommarfest retains its quaint, international flavor. Old-world Swedish traditions, including a festive dance around the Maypole, are incorporated into an unrivaled array of entertainment for families and adults.

Considering I live 3 minutes away, it’s a no-brainer, especially when the weather was so nice. I thought I’d get some good pictures too. But no, it was too crowded and the stalls not that interesting. There were lots of arts and crafts, food and beer. Religious, political and community groups were well represented. I took a picture of one of the stages, and one of the spit roasting pork, that was it.

I actually went back home, dropped my camera and went back. Tried a 10” long Italian sausage sandwich, a corn dog and a sangria that everyone was drinking. It was a nice way of spending the late afternoon.

My flight was at 4.35pm, and I gave myself 2 options: a) check out, leave the luggage at the hotel, go to Oxford Street and come back; b) check out, leave the luggage at Paddington, go to Oxford Street then get on the Heathrow Express. I opted for (b) cos I didn’t fancy trekking back to Liverpool Street, there wasn’t a lot of time anyway. What I didn’t account for, was that it costs £8 for left luggage. That’s too expensive!



So I ended up hanging around the station. Had a very nice plum tart and tea at paul. Took my time, didn’t do anything to hurry up.

Had plenty of time at the lounge. Even though I was flying AA, I went to the CX lounge instead. Ate some food, drank lots, watched the cricket, talked to mm. It’s funny, Mum couldn’t decide on the colours for the flooring and tiles, and couldn’t find me cos I was in London so she called mm! Very wifely. Hehe.

Flight wasn’t full but someone sat next to me. I had the first seat in business class. Watched He’s just not that into you, napped for a bit, listened to the radio, watched the flight path. It was a long fly-in, overshot Chicago, almost to Iowa before turning back! Must have been a long queue. Immigration and customs were quick, I got a talkative taxi driver, was home by 9pm. Went to the supermarket, initially to get milk and ended up getting loads of other stuff. I’m glad to be home.

The big meeting was finished by lunchtime, then I had other meetings in the afternoon. Those were done by 4pm, so I was able to get back to the hotel. Called mm, then went running, then went to get dinner — salt beef bagels from Brick Lane, of course. The rest of the evening was watching tv, nothing special.

Long day of meetings and a full agenda. Working lunch too. Different team dynamics from before, with new additions. The old team still stuck together, which was good.

Dinner at Devonshire Terrace, where for cocktails we had Pimm’s. ahhhhhh, Pimm’s. I had pea and mint soup (very large bowl, too salty), salmon fishcakes (niiice) and apple & blackberry crumble (also too large portion). Then J, P and I sat at the hotel lobby bar, with free wine and olives, and talked till we were ready to drop. It was great to chat. Some good news, but not the right time to disclose.

I’m not used to “only” 7 hour flights, which was how long it took from ORD to LHR. Quick dinner, watched The International then I made sure to get some sleep. Woke up an hour before landing and had some cereal for breakfast.

Tube strike today, start of 48hs. It’s been a long while since the whole Tube was closed. A car picked me and my colleague up from T3 and it took one hour to get to Chiswick roundabout, and 2.5hrs to get to our hotel. Staying at the Andaz at Liverpool Street, which I stayed in when it first opened and was known as the Great Eastern.

Went to the office for conf calls and meetings. Wanted to get salt beef bagels but the walk is too long. Went running, ordered room service sushi and now watching England vs Andorra. Woot, football!

There are tens of thousand of iphone apps available. This one, Brushes, created a stir last week, as it was the app used to create the June cover of the New Yorker magazine. Of course, artistic talent had a lot to do with it.

I was following the liveblog of the WWDC keynote. Price reduction on mbp! Snow Leopard out in a few months! All very exciting. But of course everyone was waiting for iPhone news. That there’d be a 32GB model, compass, video, cut & paste, new OS…it’s all been leaked already. But it’s still nice to have it confirmed. Now the question is, how soon after 19 June can I wait?

I’m sitting at my desk and my comfy Aeron chair as I type this.

According to TDP, unpacking uses 270 calories an hour. So I think I did like 4 hours today, so I spent like 1080 calories. I definitely didn’t manage to eat all of that back.

Plan of action was room by room, and I got a lot done:

• finish unpacking all the suitcases
• 3 loads of laundry
• loaded up the dishwasher
• moved sideboards
• glassware in hutch
• kitchen is done
• most books on shelves
• filing cabinet done

I even partially unpacked the Keller box that came with me from Zurich — a couple of beautiful Le Creuset oven dishes, more kitchen stuff. Only stationery that goes in the desk and shelves in the study left from this side of the apartment.

Of course, there’s the front side — living and dining rooms still to be done. It’ll have to wait till I’m back from London.

Car came over at noon to help me move my stuff from PT. I was lucky that I got a luggage cart, they ran out after I got mine. So I loaded 5 document boxes, 1 duffel and 2 suitcases into her car. Off we go!

Lucked out, got a parking space opposite the house. Unloading didn’t take long. OMG I have SO MUCH STUFF. There’s things everywhere, it’s amazing. Didn’t know where to start — living room? Dining room? Kitchen? Bedrooms? Study? But first, lunch. Walked over to Hamburger Mary’s and we each got a big burger. Nice.

Then I got to work on the rest of the clothes and Car helped put the bookshelves together, then sorted fiction from non-fiction.

We worked steadily till 5-ish, then headed out to Target. I spent $360 on a whole bunch of stuff — a vacuum cleaner, mop, broom, a Magic Bullet, electrical cords, laundry detergent, shampoo &conditioner, drinks, and a Queen sized airbed with electrical pump.

Too tired to do much after getting some dessert and shower. Still a long way to go, sigh.

I just realised, this will be my last night at PT. 5 months. Wow.

I’m guilty too. Over the last 20 years I have forgotten, and become uncaring.

I was still young, but old enough to take to the streets when it happened. There was a big gathering on Gerrard Street, then a march up Regents Street. I was near the front, and when we reached Oxford Circus, the end was still filling up Piccadilly Circus, there were that many people.

I have pictures, they’re up at home. I can’t post them anyway cos I don’t have a scanner. But it’s all coming back to me now, and I have to remember.

So I left the mbp’s adapter at home yesterday, and had to shut down early. Went over after work to get it, and while I’m there I tried to make a dent in the unpacked stuff.

Two hours later — clothes off half the bed into 1.5 closet and part of the drawer unit.