Friday Night Links

3:37 PM

No news, just links:

• This is London - Where did they find contestants dumb enough to buy into this?
• AJC - Rick Steiner, school board member.
• Times Online - According to Andrew Sullivan, "If I were Cheney I'd be sweating a little."
• Pop Matters - This has got me excited about Skinny Puppy again.
• KIRO TV - I love this city.
• Joel on Software - Joel thinks the recording industry wants tiered pricing to exert control on its artists, and who am I to argue.
• Wired - What would the day be without more news about the Sony Fiasco.
• Seattle Times - Is anyone else bothered by and article that concludes with the statement that Oprah is like god?

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Potter!

4:19 PM

I've got my tickets to Harry Potter, do you? I'm going to the Friday 7:40 PM show. It just so happens that the movie theater nearest my office just installed a digital screen with a Digital Cinema 2k projector. So, I will see the movie projected in digital glory. Kathrine and I have decided to make a night out of it. She's meeting me in Bellevue after work and we're going to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy. Hopefully it will be fun.

Here are your links:

• Mad Penguin - One day, while the boss was away, this guy installed Ubuntu 5.04. He managed to work for a month and a half before the Boss noticed. Pretty cool. Wish I could do that. I love my Ubuntu.
• The Stranger - An article exploring why Bush White House fights for the right to continue torturing Prisoners while the Bush Justice Department prosecutes pornographers who depict torture.
• USS Mariner - Reasons for optimism for next year's team.
• Wired - They seem to think that Digg might overtake Slashdot.

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$11 Vodka Gimlet

2:54 PM

Dinner at Earth and Ocean was good, but not as great as I had hoped. I had the Potato Leek soup for my starter, and it was exquisite. My main course of Pan Roasted Cod, was just OK. The cod was good, but not overly flavorful. I didn't care for the polenta cake or the ratatouille that came with it. The parmesan broth was good, but I don't think it really went with the fish. The desert was very good, but I'm the kind of guy who prefers a hostess cupcake to most well done pastries. I had the best vodka gimlet I've ever had, but for $11 it should be. The one I get at The Pacific Inn is nearly as good, and half the price. I did have fun though, it's always nice hanging out with friends.

Anyway, here are some links:

• WTOP - You may have heard the stories about Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele being pelted with Oreo cookies, he even mentioned it on Bill Maher.

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Open Source, My Ass

12:01 PM

You may have hear that a bunch of conservative bloggers founded a collective called Pajamas Media. They recently renamed themselves Open Source Media. Something about that seems a little fishy. Especially when you realize that they trademarked OSM. Here's what they have to say:

"Free speech, not free beer!"

In 1985, that’s how the Free Software Foundation first described an idealized world wherein innovative ideas would flow freely though the collaborative environment of the internet. In casting about for a term that would denote freedom, not freebies, those who followed FSF coined the term "Open Source," intending it merely as a reference to the "source" code in which they programmed. It turned out to be much more than that.

The open source ethos helped drive the great boom in information technology that made the internet ubiquitous in the 90s and led to the creation of over 20 million personal weblogs--or blogs--in the first half of the oughts.

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Childs Play

2:16 PM

Nothing real new going on. Kathrine and I just finished season four of Edgemont as the replay it on Wham! Unfortunately, that channel has only bought the rights to the first four seasons. Hopefully season five will be purchased soon, or we'll be able to catch the reruns on the CBC.

We're going out to dinner tonight with some friends. There is something called Twenty-Five for $25 where twenty five restaurants offer a meal for $25. We are going to Earth and Ocean.

Also, Penny Arcade, who I often link to, are doing their annual Christmas charity. Childs Play is a program where they buy toys, DVDs, CD's, and games for sick kids in Children's Hospitals around the globe. It's a really good program and if you have the extra money, buy something off the wishlist.

Now that I have that off my chest, how about some links?

• Wired - This is interesting.

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Another case of the Mondays

2:24 PM

Not an overly exciting weekend. We went out for drinks Friday and Saturday. It was fun, but nothing special. Sunday I decided to cook. I wanted to make the pocket pies that I saw on Good Eats last week. Traditionally you make a quick crust and fill it with leftovers. I thought they would be good with samosa filling instead. Of course that meant making samosa filling. Which meant toasting and grinding coriander and cumin, and grinding up a batch of garam masala. It also meant boiling, then cooling, then peeling, and then dicing potatoes. Then I could cook the filling, which needed to be chilled before making the pies. Of course what would samosa pocket pies be without chutney dipping sauce? So I made a mint-tamarind chutney and a yogurt-mint chutney. Then I actually got down to making the crust, filling the pies and pan frying them. I didn't think just the pies would be a very good dinner though, so I made a quick tandori style shrimp dish to serve on the side.

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The Chips Come In

1:08 PM

Thank god for the weekend. If only the weather wasn't going to suck. Of course this means that the slopes are just about to open. Chris, Kathrine and I went out last night to head to Sonic Boom. Chris agreed that there were a lot of great CD's that had been sold there, and since he got paid, he wanted to make a trip. Kathrine and I picked up Silver Scooter - The Other Palm Springs and The Lucksmiths - Naturaliste used. We also got Harvey Danger - Little By Little and Nada Surf - The Weight Is a Gift (Are you feeling mid 90's Nostalgia?). After the record store we went and ate cupcakes at Cupcake Royale (always a favorite of Kathrine).

I also got my poker chips. After much deliberating and discussing, I've decided that these are the chips I like. That is of course unless these don't go on sale.

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China Hutch leads to death on I-5

12:37 PM

Sorry, I've been a slacker, but I've been busy with other stuff. As many of you have that gotten married know, you end up with a lot of crap. I've been doing all that I can just to keep up with the boxes and packing material. But, that was the least of our problems. With all the new stuff, plus the loads of antiques that my grandmother gave to us; we were completely out of storage space. Things were stacked two layers deep in our dining room. Kathrine and I decided that what we needed was a china hutch. We'd done quite a bit of looking, and had resigned ourselves to purchase this piece from Ikea. It seemed rather expensive for the quality; it was bigger than I liked; and most important, it was very open (which I felt was a danger with cats in the house). On Saturday, I decided that I'd do one last look at craigslist and see what I could find.

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Amazon, CDs, and Chips

12:33 PM

It's friday and I'm excited. Today we get the rest off the massive order I placed at Amazon, where I bought the stuff we really needed off our Amazon wedding registry. I love getting new gadgets. Plus it allows me to clean out some of our less than adequate stuff and send it to the basement. If you are in the Seattle area and need any spatulas, cutting boards, mixing spoons, colanders, measuring cups, or measuring spoons; let me know.

I also ran a lot of errands Wednesday night, since I had the car and was out picking up stuff from the post office. First, I went to Fred Meyer to get the Revenge of the Sith DVD and some cat litter. I had planned on driving over to Easy Street to get a couple of CD's; but due to traffic and time concerns, I went to Sonic Boom in Ballard instead. I'm glad I did. I quickly grabbed the two discs I came for (Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary and Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes). Even though I was pressed for time, I decided to look through the used CD's.

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I'm a Winner

3:23 PM

We'll, I finally won. I took home the pot of $80. I didn't get my wish and get really great cards though. I had to grind it out. For the first 1.5 hours I only saw three flops, and the hands I hade were: K-4 suited, Pocket 3's, and Q-J off suit.

I had to fold all but the K-4 right after the flop. I really shouldn't have even played the K-4, but I had folded so many hands I figured I had such a tight image people might think my hand was powerful just because I was playing. I was able to limp in, and thought I might get lucky and hit a flush. I didn't hit anything on the flop though, and was third to act (five people were still in). The first two players checked to me, so I checked. The next player checked to Kurt who was on the button. I've played with Kurt long enough to know that he will always bet if everyone checks to him. So he throws in $50. The two players folded to me. I gave Kurt a good stare while I played with my chips, and calmly raised to $150 (the size of the pot).

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