Posted on December 23, 2006 @ 2:09 pm
I only listen to the radio when driving to work on when doing chores around the house. One thing I’ve noticed recently is that John Lennon doesn’t get much airtime throughout the year – but in December the stations regularly play his music. And not just his Anti-war/Christmas song, but a variety of his hits, like “Watching the Wheels” and “Working Class Hero”. There’s something nostagic and emotional about his music that’s perfect for the holiday season…but also great to hear any time of the year.
Posted on December 21, 2006 @ 12:18 am
They are predictable and unavoidable: top 10 lists of 2006 and predictions for 2007. You turn on the tv and you see the top 100 music videos of the year, top 10 sports plays of the year, etc. I guess these lists appeal to people who are overly nostalgic, but I think for the most part it’s just an easy way to develop content or programming (while everyone is attending holiday parties and out christmas shopping of course). The one exception, however, is Valleywag’s top search lists that you’ve never seen
Brilliant!
Posted on December 17, 2006 @ 12:13 pm
The Nintendo wii are two the most in demand holidays gifts this year.
The PS3 is selling for over 1,000 cmdZViewItem on ebay and the wii is selling for $600-700
The reason for these inflated prices is that Sony and Nintendo couldn’t produce them fast enough for the holiday season.
My girlfriend was trying to buy me the wii and she got up at 6am today to go to Target, where they were rumored to get a shipment. She got there and said over 100 people were in line and that Target was only expecting 15-20 of the wii systems…so she went home and back to sleep.
While making the hottest gaming systems available in low supply right before the holiday season is sure to create a buying frenzy, I tend to think that Sony and Nintendo also miss the opportunity to sell to people like me. I’m not a gamer, but if they were in better supply, I’d be playing it today. However, since they aren’t available unless you wait in line overnight or pay an exorbitant price on ebay — I’m not buying one. And this is the opportunity they are missing — someone who would only buy the system for Christmas or as a Christmas gift, and will otherwise forget about the wii and the PS3 after December 25th.
Posted on December 16, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
I registered a new domain a couple of months ago via GoDaddy and paid for 2 years on my credit card. A week ago I received a piece of mail that looked like a bill for my domain titled “Website Listing Service” telling me where to send my payment. I read the details and it turns out a company called
http://www.listingcorp.com wants to charge me to $65 a year to submit my domain with up to 8 keywords to 20 established search engines.
First: the way this is presented is deceptive. I bet a lot of people confuse this with the actual domain registration and just pay it.
Second: what search engine takes domain submissions with keywords (and actually values the keywords)? Also, if my site is of any value, shouldn’t the top 20 search engines find it anyway?
Third: it’s lame that they got my name and domain info from GoDaddy. Did GoDaddy sell it to them, or did they just scrape it from the GoDaddy WHOIS database?
Lastly: if you’re genuinely interested in offering me a service, don’t send me a bill. The first thing on their letter is instructions on who to make my check out to. If Listing Corp is a real company, offer me a valuable service, like setting up XML sitemaps so search engines crawl my site better.
Here is what my bill from Listingcorp.com looked like:
Posted on @ 12:15 am
When I setup my TV, I plugged the audio directly from the cable box into the receiver. Since I bypassed the tv, the commercials are really loud compared to regular programming. Because of the way my tv & stereo are setup, I can’t run the audio through the tv first. Is there a good solution for reducing the volume of the commercials, like a device to go between the cable box and receiver?
Posted on December 14, 2006 @ 1:19 am
Why does Kodak call their online photo software “EasyShare” when in fact it is _difficult to share_ photos on their system?
I went to a holiday party last week and someone sent out photos, but I couldn’t view them without creating an account. I refuse to give them my contact information just to browse the photos. Instead I’ll ask someone to save the good ones and email them to me.
Posted on @ 1:07 am
There are seven full business days left before the holidays start and I feel like this is the busiest I’ve been all year. Getting contracts signed before eoq, coordinating with partners before things so silent for 2 weeks, and tying up loose ends. I’ll be working 110% until next Thursday and then I’ll be ready to enjoy the break and recharge.
Posted on @ 12:55 am
We had a small get together at my place on Friday night and prior to the party I put holiday lights on our back deck. One of my other neighbors has colored lights on his deck and tonight I noticed another neighbor in the process of hanging lights along the edge of his roof. I think lights add a nice touch and get people into the holiday spirit.
In the photo below you can see my lights as well as one of the holiday traditions here in the bay area. If you look out the center panel window, you’ll see the Alcatraz lighthouse, and just above it to the right is a bright light. This is a tree lit at the peak of Angel Island, which is the island across from Alcatraz — and on clear nights you can see it from all around the bay.
Posted on December 7, 2006 @ 1:33 am
I’m just about done responding to email that got piled up from last week. I can usually stay on top of things, but my laptop profile got corrupted and I was without email for a few days. Anyhow, I need a brake from work and wanted to post something about my trip…
I enjoyed Guadalajara and I had a number of good meetings. I attended the book fair and it was cool to see so many different countries represented.
This was my first time visiting Mexico, and I was impressed that my high school level Spanish got me by for the most part (asking directions, ordering food, etc.). I wish I had learnt the language, but it seems tough to do so unless you’re immersed in the culture and language. I spoke to a taxi driver who said that he lived in Los Angeles for 2 years and never had to speak English. I’ve been in San Francisco for 4 years and I’ve never really had to speak Spanish, but I did occasionally need to when living in New York City.
On my way to the airport in Guadalajara I stopped by a street market and took some photos, which I posted on Flickr
I found this one especially amusing:
