I love it when folks come up with cool ideas - I've seen so many of these "unboxing" videos, but this took me by surprise. I totally want that phone now.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Chess
Played three games of chess last night with Neil, and got my ass handed to me all three times. At my best, I was keeping up; at my worst, I'd make some incredibly boneheaded move and put myself in a position where there was no way I could win. I admittedly conceded all three games, but my logic all three times went something like this:
1) With a level playing field, I can maybe keep up. Let's be generous and give me 50-50 odds.
2) Neil just made an awesome move that made me waste about four moves and ended up with me losing a valuable piece. Therefore, I'm about four moves behind and down in points.
3) Conclusion: with a level playing field, I'm about 50-50. With the chips in Neil's favor, I'm probably more of a 95-5. Therefore, let's just concede rather than playing for another 30 minutes just to arrive at the obvious conclusion.
I remember when I backpacked with Runar, we played a ton of chess, and he beat me almost every time (meaning like 98%). We were discussing rankings, scores, etc, and Runar pointed out something interesting - chess rankings (or scores, or ratings, or whatever the hell it's called) are very specific, and you need to play with someone with practically an identical score to you. I think the points go somewhere from 0 to 2000 or something, and a difference of 100 points means that the player with the better score will almost always win, which isn't really any fun for either player. The Internet has been a a great tool for chess players, not because of social aspects or by eliminating the need to have a chess board, but because you can find someone whose score is close enough to yours to ensure a good, fair game. And (at least according to Runar), the best way to improve is to play someone at more or less your skill level - it's not like basketball or other sports where you want to play with people who are better than you (actually, it kind of is, but a difference of 100 points is the equivalent of migrating from your pickup game to playing with college starters - i.e. it's so far out of your league that you just get shut down and don't really improve).
I'm very impressed - I'm tempted to teach him how to play poker, because I think he could be far better at it than I am. Poker takes analytical skill, which he obviously has, and it also takes an intuitive ability to read people, which I think he also has. Of course, I don't want to be responsible for him getting in trouble or turning to gambling, so maybe I'll hold off on that.
Speaking of poker, Clau and I have decided to go to Massachusetts for the holiday weekend coming up. We're making the balls-out drive to Salem on Friday night, crashing, exploring Salem and migrating to Boston on Saturday, partying in Boston on Saturday, then exploring some more before heading to Foxwoods on Sunday. I'll play poker at Foxwoods (probably until the wee smalls), then on Monday we'll explore Mystic Seaport and head back home. Should be a lot of fun. I've never played in a casino before and I hope I don't get my ass handed to me like last night. But, the way I see it, even if I lose $500 on Sunday night, the proceeds from our apartment the following Wednesday ought to take the sting out of it.
OK, lots to do for work, and if I get a chance I'm going to review some chess materials: if I can at least not do anything really stupid, maybe I'll have a chance.
Choice quote from Neil last night: "Hey, you've been making some pretty good moves; not the one you just made, obviously, but overall pretty decent." My cup runneth over.
1) With a level playing field, I can maybe keep up. Let's be generous and give me 50-50 odds.
2) Neil just made an awesome move that made me waste about four moves and ended up with me losing a valuable piece. Therefore, I'm about four moves behind and down in points.
3) Conclusion: with a level playing field, I'm about 50-50. With the chips in Neil's favor, I'm probably more of a 95-5. Therefore, let's just concede rather than playing for another 30 minutes just to arrive at the obvious conclusion.
I remember when I backpacked with Runar, we played a ton of chess, and he beat me almost every time (meaning like 98%). We were discussing rankings, scores, etc, and Runar pointed out something interesting - chess rankings (or scores, or ratings, or whatever the hell it's called) are very specific, and you need to play with someone with practically an identical score to you. I think the points go somewhere from 0 to 2000 or something, and a difference of 100 points means that the player with the better score will almost always win, which isn't really any fun for either player. The Internet has been a a great tool for chess players, not because of social aspects or by eliminating the need to have a chess board, but because you can find someone whose score is close enough to yours to ensure a good, fair game. And (at least according to Runar), the best way to improve is to play someone at more or less your skill level - it's not like basketball or other sports where you want to play with people who are better than you (actually, it kind of is, but a difference of 100 points is the equivalent of migrating from your pickup game to playing with college starters - i.e. it's so far out of your league that you just get shut down and don't really improve).
I'm very impressed - I'm tempted to teach him how to play poker, because I think he could be far better at it than I am. Poker takes analytical skill, which he obviously has, and it also takes an intuitive ability to read people, which I think he also has. Of course, I don't want to be responsible for him getting in trouble or turning to gambling, so maybe I'll hold off on that.
Speaking of poker, Clau and I have decided to go to Massachusetts for the holiday weekend coming up. We're making the balls-out drive to Salem on Friday night, crashing, exploring Salem and migrating to Boston on Saturday, partying in Boston on Saturday, then exploring some more before heading to Foxwoods on Sunday. I'll play poker at Foxwoods (probably until the wee smalls), then on Monday we'll explore Mystic Seaport and head back home. Should be a lot of fun. I've never played in a casino before and I hope I don't get my ass handed to me like last night. But, the way I see it, even if I lose $500 on Sunday night, the proceeds from our apartment the following Wednesday ought to take the sting out of it.
OK, lots to do for work, and if I get a chance I'm going to review some chess materials: if I can at least not do anything really stupid, maybe I'll have a chance.
Choice quote from Neil last night: "Hey, you've been making some pretty good moves; not the one you just made, obviously, but overall pretty decent." My cup runneth over.
FedEx follow-up
Got an email from my dad giving more clarification:
Read your blog. You don't hate Fed Ex, you hate Fed Ex Ground. It's two different services and Fed Ex Ground verily sucketh a major rock. Fed Ex Ground is a separate service that Fed Ex set up fr the purpose of fucking the drivers. These drivers are not real fed ex employees, they are called "contractors" but they drive a fed ex truck and wear a fed ex uniform and the packages they deliver come in a fed ex box. The services is way cheaper for the shipper but the drivers are getting royally fucked by fed ex. You must have noticed that some fed ex packages (the overnight, the two day) have a nice tracking number and you can re rout and other good stuff, and some seem to be just sitting in limbo and nobody cares about the package or you. That's the difference between the two services. When you ahve to ship fed ex, pay extra for a true fed ex servie like overnight or two day. Thought you might like to know.I'm not 100% sure that I don't still hate FedEx for doing this - I mean, I don't hate Indian call centers for their poor training as much as I hate the companies that employ them. And of course, this comes back to my gripe with vendors for not saying who is going to ship the packages - I mean, UPS has ground service too and we don't have any problem with it, and the price difference between ground and 2-day tends to be pretty substantial (especially when you're ordering something like a $10 DVD). Still, for big stuff I think it's definitely worth it to opt for 2-day delivery, just in case it's going to be sent FedEx...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I hate FedEx
I cannot describe how much I hate FedEx. Every time a package gets sent to our apartment via FedEx it turns into a nightmare. Points:
1) They will not leave a package with the super. Every time we ask them to do that, they say "the super wasn't there". Funny how he's always there for UPS.
2) For "home delivery", they don't give a time window - well, that's not completely true - they say "sometime between 8am and 8pm".
3) The delivery time is never consistent, as can be seen from the door tags and the few times I've been home when they deliver. Sometimes they show up at 9am, sometimes 5pm, usually sometimes in-between.
4) They don't deliver on Saturday unless your delivery time just happens to be on Saturday. So, in other words, it's not that they're incapable of it, they just won't do it on request.
5) They "might" deliver to another address, depending on their mood, but they'll charge for it if they have to change to another FedEx facility (so, for example, if you can't be at home in Hoboken and you want it just delivered to your office in NYC, they charge for that).
6) They hold all packages in the bowels of Brooklyn. There was a time when they held stuff in Manhattan (admittedly way on the edge of Manhattan, but Manhattan nonetheless) - now you're just screwed if you don't have a car.
This is just my opinion - a quick scour of the Internet will yield lots of people who have similar but opposite opinions (like "FedEx is just fine, but UPS is awful!"). Personally, my big gripe is with vendors. I think it should be a requirement that all online vendors specify which carrier will be used to transport your order. Actually, what would be best would be a choice - most people would probably go for the cheapest option, but for people like me for whom it makes a difference, it would be nice. The only reason I can think of for this is either:
1) Vendors don't want to have to update their sites when they change carriers
2) Vendors themselves don't know who they'll use until the day they ship it, depending on packages, destinations, weights, etc.
3) Vendors know that people like me are out there, for whom "It'll be shipped FedEx" is a deal-breaker (and like I said, different people have issues with different carriers).
We need government intervention dammit! At the very least, I'm going to start getting picky about this and, when possible, let vendors know that I will only purchase from them if I can know that they're NOT shipping FedEx.
The worst part? I don't even really want this package anyway - it's something I ordered and then realized I don't need. However, I paid 30 bucks for it and I figure I ought to get it. Maybe I'll just let it go back to the vendor and suck up the restocking fee. Grr....
1) They will not leave a package with the super. Every time we ask them to do that, they say "the super wasn't there". Funny how he's always there for UPS.
2) For "home delivery", they don't give a time window - well, that's not completely true - they say "sometime between 8am and 8pm".
3) The delivery time is never consistent, as can be seen from the door tags and the few times I've been home when they deliver. Sometimes they show up at 9am, sometimes 5pm, usually sometimes in-between.
4) They don't deliver on Saturday unless your delivery time just happens to be on Saturday. So, in other words, it's not that they're incapable of it, they just won't do it on request.
5) They "might" deliver to another address, depending on their mood, but they'll charge for it if they have to change to another FedEx facility (so, for example, if you can't be at home in Hoboken and you want it just delivered to your office in NYC, they charge for that).
6) They hold all packages in the bowels of Brooklyn. There was a time when they held stuff in Manhattan (admittedly way on the edge of Manhattan, but Manhattan nonetheless) - now you're just screwed if you don't have a car.
This is just my opinion - a quick scour of the Internet will yield lots of people who have similar but opposite opinions (like "FedEx is just fine, but UPS is awful!"). Personally, my big gripe is with vendors. I think it should be a requirement that all online vendors specify which carrier will be used to transport your order. Actually, what would be best would be a choice - most people would probably go for the cheapest option, but for people like me for whom it makes a difference, it would be nice. The only reason I can think of for this is either:
1) Vendors don't want to have to update their sites when they change carriers
2) Vendors themselves don't know who they'll use until the day they ship it, depending on packages, destinations, weights, etc.
3) Vendors know that people like me are out there, for whom "It'll be shipped FedEx" is a deal-breaker (and like I said, different people have issues with different carriers).
We need government intervention dammit! At the very least, I'm going to start getting picky about this and, when possible, let vendors know that I will only purchase from them if I can know that they're NOT shipping FedEx.
The worst part? I don't even really want this package anyway - it's something I ordered and then realized I don't need. However, I paid 30 bucks for it and I figure I ought to get it. Maybe I'll just let it go back to the vendor and suck up the restocking fee. Grr....
Monday, August 11, 2008
Summer in NYC
So it's the middle of August, it's about 70 degrees and pouring rain. The worst part is that I left my window open this morning, even after seeing the weather report. I figured "well, worst case scenario is a quick burst of rain, a little bit might get into the apartment, but it'll be OK." I didn't figure for the biblical-proportioned downpour that I'm now seeing outside the window of my office building, complete with thunder, lightening, and lots of hail. I shudder to think of what will be waiting for me when I get home.
On the bright side, it's supposed to be nice for the rest of the week, so at least Neil will be missing it (although he'd probably get a kick out of it - you don't get any proper thunderstorms in the Bay Area).
On the bright side, it's supposed to be nice for the rest of the week, so at least Neil will be missing it (although he'd probably get a kick out of it - you don't get any proper thunderstorms in the Bay Area).
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Dr. Horrible
I just the story behind this is so cool - Joss Whedon decides to make his little pet musical project and distribute it any way he can, without ever actually putting it on the air. I hope it's doing well.
Here's a link to an interview in Wired magazine about it. And, of course, it's on Hulu (after originally being aired in small segments for literally a few hours, before getting put exclusively on iTunes for the hardcore, and now free to all of you. A DVD can't be far behind.)
Click here to see the whole thing, or check out this tidbit:
Here's a link to an interview in Wired magazine about it. And, of course, it's on Hulu (after originally being aired in small segments for literally a few hours, before getting put exclusively on iTunes for the hardcore, and now free to all of you. A DVD can't be far behind.)
Click here to see the whole thing, or check out this tidbit:
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Interesting discussion about talking to the police
This is very cool:
http://www.tuccille.com/blog/2008/07/eight-reasons-even-innocent-shouldnt.html
A law professor gives a very simple piece of advice: don't ever talk to the police if you're a person of interest / suspect / whatever. He offers a police detective the opportunity to comment, and the cop says "That's exactly correct."
This reminds me a lot of a conversation I was having with a lawyer friend last Friday - basically I asked him "if the cops want to talk to me, at what point do I decide I need a lawyer?" Actually I think I asked him something more like "dude, if I ever get arrested, who do I call, and what do I do until the lawyer gets there?" His advice: "Call [list of mutual criminal law friends], and until he shows up you have a one word vocabulary: 'lawyer'." We then proceeded to role-play with me being the police and him being me, and he spent the entire time with his fingers in his ears saying "lawyer! lawyer! lawyer!". Let's hope I remember that advice if I ever need it (in my short time left in the U.S.)
http://www.tuccille.com/blog/2008/07/eight-reasons-even-innocent-shouldnt.html
A law professor gives a very simple piece of advice: don't ever talk to the police if you're a person of interest / suspect / whatever. He offers a police detective the opportunity to comment, and the cop says "That's exactly correct."
This reminds me a lot of a conversation I was having with a lawyer friend last Friday - basically I asked him "if the cops want to talk to me, at what point do I decide I need a lawyer?" Actually I think I asked him something more like "dude, if I ever get arrested, who do I call, and what do I do until the lawyer gets there?" His advice: "Call [list of mutual criminal law friends], and until he shows up you have a one word vocabulary: 'lawyer'." We then proceeded to role-play with me being the police and him being me, and he spent the entire time with his fingers in his ears saying "lawyer! lawyer! lawyer!". Let's hope I remember that advice if I ever need it (in my short time left in the U.S.)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Various crap
OK, for one thing - for those of you not in the know, Google Reader is about the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's an RSS feed reader which you can use to keep up-to-date on all your favorite stuff, without having to check regularly. Also, it's extremely easy to use - just click "Add Subscription", put in the main URL for what you want to subscribe to, and voila. So, for example, you could just enter http://staunchtech.blogspot.com into the subscription, and you'll have an instant easy dashboard into my musings.
So, what's in my reader? My list is actually pretty small:
slashdot.org - of course
morelightmorelight.com - My friend Matt's genius thoughts
hotdealsclub.com - because sometimes something awesome pops up
thevegasyear.blogspot.com - this guy is really into playing poker and it's fun to read
blog.rocketboom.com - I went and visited these guys a while ago and they're awesome, so now they're on the list
www.xkcd.com - popular web comic that's become so hip it's mainstream
feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video - this keeps me updated on the latest talks from TED
www.schneier.com/blog/index.rdf - I've already professed my love for all things Schneier
www.wondermark.com/wondermarkrss.xml - I love me some Wondermark. I highly recommend wondermark.com and spending 2-3 hours reading all of them.
While we were in Grand Cayman I caught a look at Matt's feed list and it totally put mine to shame. On the other hand, I tend to read and be interested in everything that comes up on mine. To each their own.
So what else - well, here's the quick list:
There's definitely more but I need to get back to work. More to come (seriously!) soon...
So, what's in my reader? My list is actually pretty small:
slashdot.org - of course
morelightmorelight.com - My friend Matt's genius thoughts
hotdealsclub.com - because sometimes something awesome pops up
thevegasyear.blogspot.com - this guy is really into playing poker and it's fun to read
blog.rocketboom.com - I went and visited these guys a while ago and they're awesome, so now they're on the list
www.xkcd.com - popular web comic that's become so hip it's mainstream
feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video - this keeps me updated on the latest talks from TED
www.schneier.com/blog/index.rdf - I've already professed my love for all things Schneier
www.wondermark.com/wondermarkrss.xml - I love me some Wondermark. I highly recommend wondermark.com and spending 2-3 hours reading all of them.
While we were in Grand Cayman I caught a look at Matt's feed list and it totally put mine to shame. On the other hand, I tend to read and be interested in everything that comes up on mine. To each their own.
So what else - well, here's the quick list:
- Our neighbor is going to buy our apartment, we just got into contract after hitting some snags and everybody's pretty happy and excited.
- The car is in the shop, because whether we take it with us or sell it, we'll want to have it in tip-top shape.
- Claudia has been in Central America for the last week training folks, she gets back tonight (happy times!).
- I've been going to the doctor a lot. Seems that every time I go to the doctor I end up going over and over again and spending boatloads of money, which is why I tend to avoid going to the doctor. But, it had been a while and I had something that I wanted checked out, so now I'm going for like my third visit next week, plus I have to go to a dermatologist for a once-over etc etc. Like I said, every time I go it snowballs.
- Claudia inadvertently paid a credit-card bill, in full, twice. I've used the bill pay for the bank she did it from and I can totally understand how she did it, and I probably would have done the same thing. Nonetheless it's put us many hundreds of dollars in the red for the last 10 days or so (because we didn't even know it had happened until I tried to get cash about 5 days later). After endless calling, hopping from branch to branch, etc I think I've probably gotten the balance to more or less zero. Very very painful, and even though I already convinced them to waive most of the fees, they're still there, which means that I'll have to go through the whole exercise again.
- Incidentally, this is a great way for banks to get out of waiving fees - just agree to do it and then don't do it. Why don't they all do this? It's not like they're going to get caught - the worst thing that can happen is that a customer calls again, says "why haven't you waived these fees?" and then the new rep can say "There's no record here of any decision to waive those fees, and you should really be more careful." After which the customer can complain again, maybe you say you'll take the fees off and not really do it, at which point all the customer can do is close the bank account, but after all that time spent they'll probably just say "screw it" and keep the account. After all, they just paid a whole bunch of money for it! It's foolproof!
- Of course the whole Munich thing is still weighing heavily on our minds. There's a big list of stuff to be done and we're not in the least bit organized. Soon enough we will have to put our family nose to the grindstone and get to it.
- I'm trying to figure out if there's any way I can go to CA for a last hurrah before I go to Munich. I don't know if I can but I will certainly do everything I can.
- Speaking of CA, my brother's coming over in August. Hopefully I will have more time to commit to his visit than last time.
- Speaking of siblings, Clau's sister is pregnant! Huzzah - the pressure is off! I'm going to be someone's rich foreign uncle! Of course Carina will be making the obligatory visit to NYC to stock up on baby stuff (even before the dollar plummeted, it was cheaper to buy baby stuff in the U.S. than in Brazil, now it's waaay cheaper). We've had our fair share of expectant mothers loading up, but this will be the first direct family member coming for that purpose. Good stuff!
- Work! My current employer and I are in discussions as to whether or not I might be able to continue to work for the Company after I move. So far it's looking promising but not by any means guaranteed. In the meantime I've got my (potential) swan song - the EC2 project. I may never be able to discuss it on this blog but it's fun stuff - if it doesn't catch on here, I'll ask my boss if I can release it to the open source community, and maybe someone can do something cool w/ it and give me some cred in the OSS world. Win-win!
There's definitely more but I need to get back to work. More to come (seriously!) soon...
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
It's official - moving to Munich
Well, it finally happened - Clau got the transfer. Her first day is Oct 20 and we're madly scrambling to try to get everything ready in time. Life is nuts right now!
Just thought I should share...
Just thought I should share...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Finally - a music service I can dig!
Check it out! The new LaLa has a model that I actually can agree with - you can "buy" songs in two ways:
$0.10 - Put it on your dashboard and you can listen to it from any computer with the iTunes-esque web interface - haven't tested it on my Mac yet but it smells of Flash, so I'm optimistic. With the 10-cent option, you can listen as much as you want, but you can't put it on a iPod or CD.
$0.89-$0.99 - Get a DRM-free mp3 of it - if you already put it on your dash, then the $0.10 will be credited against it (so you get the mp3 for $0.79 or $0.89 depending on label).
Oh, and you get one "free" listen of any track on the site (so you can decide if it's even worth the $0.10 to put it on the dash) - after that you're limited to a 30-second clip.
This is totally the way to do it, and IMHO combines the best of everything that came before it (iTunes, Yahoo! music, etc). Also, when you sign up you get 50 free credits for the $0.10 option. I checked out Madonna's new album guilt-free, and three songs made it to my dashboard. I'm totally in love w/ this - I just hope that it doesn't get squashed or have the price get jacked up.
Tell your friends - if this takes off then maybe it'll become the new standard model for distribution!
$0.10 - Put it on your dashboard and you can listen to it from any computer with the iTunes-esque web interface - haven't tested it on my Mac yet but it smells of Flash, so I'm optimistic. With the 10-cent option, you can listen as much as you want, but you can't put it on a iPod or CD.
$0.89-$0.99 - Get a DRM-free mp3 of it - if you already put it on your dash, then the $0.10 will be credited against it (so you get the mp3 for $0.79 or $0.89 depending on label).
Oh, and you get one "free" listen of any track on the site (so you can decide if it's even worth the $0.10 to put it on the dash) - after that you're limited to a 30-second clip.
This is totally the way to do it, and IMHO combines the best of everything that came before it (iTunes, Yahoo! music, etc). Also, when you sign up you get 50 free credits for the $0.10 option. I checked out Madonna's new album guilt-free, and three songs made it to my dashboard. I'm totally in love w/ this - I just hope that it doesn't get squashed or have the price get jacked up.
Tell your friends - if this takes off then maybe it'll become the new standard model for distribution!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Darth Vader Feels Blue
Just when you thought that the world had run out of (good) ways to mangle Star Wars snippets, along comes some genius who shows us that the keg has not yet been completely tapped. I've watched this thing like 10 times and it still makes me laugh.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Genius - defacing of us currency
One of those things that's better than you figure it's going to be...
A collection of currency from a bored guy - link.
--Nate
A collection of currency from a bored guy - link.
--Nate
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Babies babies everywhere
Clau finally got back from Brazil with tons of stories - I went on a quick Bay Area trip while she was gone and it was great - got to see almost everybody. Spent some time getting to know my little sister, which was also cool - she's getting big fast!
The day after Clau got back home, her friends Andre and Roberta came over to spend some time w/ us and they brought their little baby Gabriella along. Clau just absolutely fell in love w/ the baby so that looks good for us!
Other than that, life is progressing at its usual pace - projects, little stuff, returning back to marital bliss. Of course there's a slew of details but right now I don't have the time to get into it - just wanted to let the world know that I'm still here...
--Nate
The day after Clau got back home, her friends Andre and Roberta came over to spend some time w/ us and they brought their little baby Gabriella along. Clau just absolutely fell in love w/ the baby so that looks good for us!
Other than that, life is progressing at its usual pace - projects, little stuff, returning back to marital bliss. Of course there's a slew of details but right now I don't have the time to get into it - just wanted to let the world know that I'm still here...
--Nate
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
My new wallpaper
I got a wallpaper-sized version of this beautiful oil painting of the Crazy German Kid (search for it on YouTube w/ English subtitles - it's disturbing but funny). I got it from this guy who takes suggestions from readers about what to paint and then paints it - usually some interesting Internet memes. Plus it's a good place to go and make sure that you're up on your Inet culture. For example, I was unaware of the awesomeness that is the Techno Viking until I visited this guys's page - would have been worth the browsing even if I hadn't picked up this nerd-pop-culture-kitsch wallpaper along the way...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Last-minute trip
As part of my new job, I will sometimes get called to go somewhere at the last minute (although it doesn't happen often). So, tonight I'm jumping on a plane to Hamburg, working Wed-Fri in Hamburg and taking the 6am flight back to NYC on Saturday. Awesome.
I went to Hamburg when I backpacked Europe, and nothing sticks out in my memory. I recall staying for a day or two, thinking "that was lame", and moving on. Maybe this time will be different, although I doubt it.
Anyway, if you're wondering where I am Tues-Saturday, I'm either en route or in Deutchland...
--Nate
I went to Hamburg when I backpacked Europe, and nothing sticks out in my memory. I recall staying for a day or two, thinking "that was lame", and moving on. Maybe this time will be different, although I doubt it.
Anyway, if you're wondering where I am Tues-Saturday, I'm either en route or in Deutchland...
--Nate
Monday, February 11, 2008
Turks and Caicos
Just a quick couple of links - Clau and I spent last Thanksgiving in Turks and Caicos. Definitely a nice place to go, although I prefer Cozumel, both for the amount of stuff to do and the quality of the diving. However, if you like to dive and you really want to get away from it all, T&C is not a bad choice.
Here's a link of the place we stayed on Google Maps
Here's a link to the photos on Flickr (admittedly not a whole lot of 'em, I'm really bad about that...)
That'll at least give some idea of what it was like...
--Nate
Here's a link of the place we stayed on Google Maps
Here's a link to the photos on Flickr (admittedly not a whole lot of 'em, I'm really bad about that...)
That'll at least give some idea of what it was like...
--Nate
Guests and diet
Well, we've been very popular folks lately. Attila, Claudia's Hungarian friend from college, came to NYC on a business trip (he works for Morgan Stanley in Hungary), and stayed with us over the weekend. I really like him a lot - he's a guy of few words but obviously brilliant. He invited a couple of his friends from his GE days to come hang out with us, and we all had a really good time. My mom just came and visited us for a couple of days (always a treat!), and it was great to see her. Unfortunately I had a ton of work I had to do, but I managed to get home on Friday at a reasonable hour so we could have a nice dinner of sushi and Yolato, followed by passing out. Mom left on Saturday morning, then we had one of Clau's colleagues from Venezuela come by in the afternoon - we went to a great Venezuelan place in our neighborhood, then headed back to our place for some marathon gaming sessions - I taught Clau how to play hold 'em and she's really good for a beginner.
Yesterday our latest guests showed up - Viviane (another college classmate of Clau's) and Marcel. We really like them a lot and it's great having them here - in fact the only complaint I have is the effect of all these visitors on my waistline. Needless to say, I have not been eating properly for the last couple of months (between Brazil, no time for Clau or I to cook, and all the visitors), and I'm starting to gain my weight back. Gotta put a stop to that.
So, for the next week, we're entertaining. It's ridiculously cold this week - today it's about 15 degrees and just brutal. Next week, Clau and I are going to take some time and just chill out...
Yesterday our latest guests showed up - Viviane (another college classmate of Clau's) and Marcel. We really like them a lot and it's great having them here - in fact the only complaint I have is the effect of all these visitors on my waistline. Needless to say, I have not been eating properly for the last couple of months (between Brazil, no time for Clau or I to cook, and all the visitors), and I'm starting to gain my weight back. Gotta put a stop to that.
So, for the next week, we're entertaining. It's ridiculously cold this week - today it's about 15 degrees and just brutal. Next week, Clau and I are going to take some time and just chill out...
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Poker and Obama
I've finally changed my "books" list to reflect stuff I've been reading lately. I got called for jury duty in early November, and since I had just finished the big project I figured it was a good time to serve. It turns out that I was part of a criminal jury pool - in NYC you're pooled together with a whole ton of other people as potential jurors for the week - when a judge wants to select a jury, the judge requests some number of jurors from the pool (probably 2-3 times the required number of jurors), the clerk randomly draws names from the pool, the selected potential jurors go through the voir dire process, some are selected, and the rest are tossed back into the pool.
At the time I showed up, there was a really high-profile murder trial that was going to begin the selection process, so the judge ordered _all_ the pool (about 200 of us) to go to the courtroom. The judge explained that the case would likely take 4-6 weeks, and told us that if we had a reason we couldn't go, we better give it now. Since I already had our vacation planned for later in the month, I told the judge I couldn't serve without losing all my pre-paid items (airfare, hotel deposit, etc), and she let me off the hook. That was the closest I ever got to serving on a jury - the rest of the time I just sat there. So, at lunchtime on the first day, I purchased "The Audacity of Hope" at the nearby college bookstore, powered through it over the next two days, and decided right there and then that I'm voting for that guy.
For our trip (I'll have to write about that in another post), I borrowed "Dreams From My Father" from the library, and again was struck by what a great writer Obama is. I don't believe I had ever read a book by a politician before - I always imagined that they would be dull - but I really enjoyed those books. Incidentally, when I checked the book out of the library in mid-November, there were probably twenty copies sitting on the shelf (it was filed away in the History / Biography section) - keep in mind this was the main branch of the library, but there are probably another 50-100 copies scattered around the NYC library system. Later on, I tried to renew it online (it was raining and I was lazy), I found that there were almost a thousand people on the waiting list for the book! So, it looks like a lot of people are really interested in checking it out.
On a completely different front, I've started learning how to play poker. I've been playing for about 10 days now and I have to say I'm enjoying it - the time I normally play is between 11pm and 1am, after Clau goes to sleep - I usually play in one tournament per night. So far, I'm 10 bucks down, which isn't too bad! I got the book "Bigger Deal" from the library on a whim and I read it while we were in Turks and Caicos. A bit boring and dry, especially if you don't play poker, but it did get me interested - theoretically it's about the author trying to improve his game sufficiently to have a shot at the WSOP (he ultimately wins a satellite to enter, but does poorly in the actual event), but there's a lot of history and fun facts about the game interspersed throughout the book. So, I figured that since I'm something of a dilettante, I would be best suited to borrow some books from the library and see if I can get anything out of them.
After reading a bit about poker, I've discovered that the really interesting thing about it is that it's a game of both math and psychology - on one hand, you need to be able to quickly figure out what you have, what you _might_ end up with and the approximate odds of you ending up with it, as well as what your opponent(s) might have and the approximate odds of _their_ ending up with something better than what you have or might end up with. Sound complicated? It is! But, of course, most people (like me) can only get a general idea of these things, and particularly when you're playing online and the action is fast and furious, you don't have adequate time to really think all these things through - however, the more you can calculate in the short amount of time you have, the better off you'll be.
Now, if it were just a game of math then it would just be math nerds who excelled at the game - but then you throw bluffing into the mix and it gets really interesting. I've never played with actual people before, although some friends have a ongoing game that I'm planning on checking out next week, but even online you've got to build a quick profile of your opponents - do they call a lot of hands, do they raise more often than they should statistically have good cards (i.e. do you think they're bluffing or at least semi-bluffing), do they almost never play and then, once in a blue moon, start throwing all their money into the pot, etc? These styles of play all have different strengths and weaknesses, and it's a lot like paper-scissors-rock: what works against one style can get completely dominated by another, but there's no one style that beats all others (or else everyone would be playing that way!).
Finally, of course, there's dumb luck - sometimes the cards are coming your way and sometimes they're not. I haven't really learned what to do about that yet, although really good players can certainly take those lemons and turn them into lemonade. But, as you can tell, I'm definitely enjoying the learning process, especially since I can play a tournament and get a lot of practice for two bucks. And, truthfully, there's a lot of lessons that can learned from poker and applied to your everyday life - a lot of decisions in life are based on the same criteria: where do I currently stand, what are my potential payoffs, how likely is this to succeed, what's the likelihood of failure, what are the benefits of success vs. the costs of failure. Plug numbers into machine, chug chug chug, and out comes the "correct" answer - then you have to decide what to do with it. Not a bad series of life lessons for 5-10 bucks a week!
At the time I showed up, there was a really high-profile murder trial that was going to begin the selection process, so the judge ordered _all_ the pool (about 200 of us) to go to the courtroom. The judge explained that the case would likely take 4-6 weeks, and told us that if we had a reason we couldn't go, we better give it now. Since I already had our vacation planned for later in the month, I told the judge I couldn't serve without losing all my pre-paid items (airfare, hotel deposit, etc), and she let me off the hook. That was the closest I ever got to serving on a jury - the rest of the time I just sat there. So, at lunchtime on the first day, I purchased "The Audacity of Hope" at the nearby college bookstore, powered through it over the next two days, and decided right there and then that I'm voting for that guy.
For our trip (I'll have to write about that in another post), I borrowed "Dreams From My Father" from the library, and again was struck by what a great writer Obama is. I don't believe I had ever read a book by a politician before - I always imagined that they would be dull - but I really enjoyed those books. Incidentally, when I checked the book out of the library in mid-November, there were probably twenty copies sitting on the shelf (it was filed away in the History / Biography section) - keep in mind this was the main branch of the library, but there are probably another 50-100 copies scattered around the NYC library system. Later on, I tried to renew it online (it was raining and I was lazy), I found that there were almost a thousand people on the waiting list for the book! So, it looks like a lot of people are really interested in checking it out.
On a completely different front, I've started learning how to play poker. I've been playing for about 10 days now and I have to say I'm enjoying it - the time I normally play is between 11pm and 1am, after Clau goes to sleep - I usually play in one tournament per night. So far, I'm 10 bucks down, which isn't too bad! I got the book "Bigger Deal" from the library on a whim and I read it while we were in Turks and Caicos. A bit boring and dry, especially if you don't play poker, but it did get me interested - theoretically it's about the author trying to improve his game sufficiently to have a shot at the WSOP (he ultimately wins a satellite to enter, but does poorly in the actual event), but there's a lot of history and fun facts about the game interspersed throughout the book. So, I figured that since I'm something of a dilettante, I would be best suited to borrow some books from the library and see if I can get anything out of them.
After reading a bit about poker, I've discovered that the really interesting thing about it is that it's a game of both math and psychology - on one hand, you need to be able to quickly figure out what you have, what you _might_ end up with and the approximate odds of you ending up with it, as well as what your opponent(s) might have and the approximate odds of _their_ ending up with something better than what you have or might end up with. Sound complicated? It is! But, of course, most people (like me) can only get a general idea of these things, and particularly when you're playing online and the action is fast and furious, you don't have adequate time to really think all these things through - however, the more you can calculate in the short amount of time you have, the better off you'll be.
Now, if it were just a game of math then it would just be math nerds who excelled at the game - but then you throw bluffing into the mix and it gets really interesting. I've never played with actual people before, although some friends have a ongoing game that I'm planning on checking out next week, but even online you've got to build a quick profile of your opponents - do they call a lot of hands, do they raise more often than they should statistically have good cards (i.e. do you think they're bluffing or at least semi-bluffing), do they almost never play and then, once in a blue moon, start throwing all their money into the pot, etc? These styles of play all have different strengths and weaknesses, and it's a lot like paper-scissors-rock: what works against one style can get completely dominated by another, but there's no one style that beats all others (or else everyone would be playing that way!).
Finally, of course, there's dumb luck - sometimes the cards are coming your way and sometimes they're not. I haven't really learned what to do about that yet, although really good players can certainly take those lemons and turn them into lemonade. But, as you can tell, I'm definitely enjoying the learning process, especially since I can play a tournament and get a lot of practice for two bucks. And, truthfully, there's a lot of lessons that can learned from poker and applied to your everyday life - a lot of decisions in life are based on the same criteria: where do I currently stand, what are my potential payoffs, how likely is this to succeed, what's the likelihood of failure, what are the benefits of success vs. the costs of failure. Plug numbers into machine, chug chug chug, and out comes the "correct" answer - then you have to decide what to do with it. Not a bad series of life lessons for 5-10 bucks a week!
Long time no write
Well lots has happened - as everyone knows we went to Brazil, it was great - my Portuguese has definitely improved since last time, and it was an interesting experience to talk to a lot of Claudia's family for what felt like the first time. We also went to Joao Pessoa, the hometown of our friend Andrea, and stayed with Andrea's family there - they remind me a lot of Claudia's family: they're very close, very warm and wonderful people. Unfortunately Clau and I really wanted some time by ourselves and we didn't get it - normally we take a few days "off" in the middle of the vacation and retreat somewhere by ourselves, but we used that normally reserved time to go to Joao Pessoa. The funny part is, I think we were a bit of a burden on Andrea's family as well, but it was a cultural etiquette problem more than anything else; we didn't want them to think that we were using them as a hotel, and they didn't want to invite us to their city and not be there to guide us every step of the way. But, like I said, if you're going to be stuck with folks in a strange city, Andrea's family are great folks to be stuck with.
Other than that the trip was relatively uneventful - as always there are lots of fun things to gossip about going on in Clau's family, but then again what family isn't like that?
Doing some interesting work lately - I was pretty much twiddling my thumbs for the better part of November and December, but now things are picking up. I can't really get into stuff in progress, but suffice it to say that I have (at least on paper) a very cool job, and things have hit a good level of busy-ness, so that I'm not working my butt off but I'm also not bored. Overall not such a bad deal.
I know this isn't very interesting and I'll cut this off now, just that folks have been asking how life has been for the last few months - truthfully Clau and I have settled into a groove - if it were any city other than New York I'd probably call it a "rut", but since there's always stuff going on, it hasn't gotten boring yet. We both come home from work tired, if we're up to it then one of us cooks, if we're not up to it then we order something (this is one thing we're trying very hard not to do, but we're still at about 50% home cooking at this stage). On Fridays, if we have the energy, we go out with friends, if not then we stay at home and watch TV or a movie, on Saturdays we talk about all the errands we have to get done over the weekend and end up vegging all day, then usually go out on the town for our weekly drinking binge. On Sundays we vow to start taking it easier on Saturdays, or at least to start taking care of our weekend errands on Saturday so we don't need to do them with a hangover on Sunday. On Monday we go back to work and play bocce at night, Tues-Thurs we come home, get changed, and cook/order food.
Like I said, a groove.
I've got some resolutions, I'll write about those separately. One of them, however, is to write more entries to this blog, for my own posterity if for nothing else...
Other than that the trip was relatively uneventful - as always there are lots of fun things to gossip about going on in Clau's family, but then again what family isn't like that?
Doing some interesting work lately - I was pretty much twiddling my thumbs for the better part of November and December, but now things are picking up. I can't really get into stuff in progress, but suffice it to say that I have (at least on paper) a very cool job, and things have hit a good level of busy-ness, so that I'm not working my butt off but I'm also not bored. Overall not such a bad deal.
I know this isn't very interesting and I'll cut this off now, just that folks have been asking how life has been for the last few months - truthfully Clau and I have settled into a groove - if it were any city other than New York I'd probably call it a "rut", but since there's always stuff going on, it hasn't gotten boring yet. We both come home from work tired, if we're up to it then one of us cooks, if we're not up to it then we order something (this is one thing we're trying very hard not to do, but we're still at about 50% home cooking at this stage). On Fridays, if we have the energy, we go out with friends, if not then we stay at home and watch TV or a movie, on Saturdays we talk about all the errands we have to get done over the weekend and end up vegging all day, then usually go out on the town for our weekly drinking binge. On Sundays we vow to start taking it easier on Saturdays, or at least to start taking care of our weekend errands on Saturday so we don't need to do them with a hangover on Sunday. On Monday we go back to work and play bocce at night, Tues-Thurs we come home, get changed, and cook/order food.
Like I said, a groove.
I've got some resolutions, I'll write about those separately. One of them, however, is to write more entries to this blog, for my own posterity if for nothing else...
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