drinking the kool-aid

After two and half wonderful years on blogger, I've decided to bow down to my corporate masters and move my blog out of Google's control and into Microsoft's.

With the help of Blog Backup Online's nifty new site, I managed to move all of my old posts and comments over to Live, so hopefully nothing will really change other than the eerie sensation that always arises when one switches from one multi-billion dollar megacorporation's products to another's.

My new blog can be found here.

let's go out to the movies

Megan and I have been going to a lot of movies lately, and last night finally made it to the Coen Brothers' newest film, No Country for Old Men. I say finally because I'm a huge Coen fan, and the film has received almost universally terrific reviews.

Yet I found myself a little unsatisfied at the end; with many loose ends still untied in the plot, that was probably inevitable. I had a hard time understanding what the movie was trying to say, perhaps not because it didn't say it well but rather because I didn't like its message. Like many of the Coen Brothers' best works (Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski come to mind), it's a movie I expect I'll need to see a few more times to fully comprehend.

But for any movie lover that's not squeamish, and perhaps especially for those who are, this movie is an absolute delight. It's violent, (but not gratuitous), darkly humorous (but not funny), and philosophical (but not preachy). And it's absolutely the best film I've seen in a long time.

a thing of beauty

Dan and I headed on Saturday for what would become a shopping trip of epic proportions. The trip included a quick visit to The Trading Musician up in Ravenna, a long and fruitful stay at American Music in Fremont (definitely my new go-to music store in the area), and a (hopefully last ever) visit to Guitar Center in downtown Seattle.

By the end of our journey, my wallet was a lot lighter and my car was a lot fuller . . . with my new Heritage Cherry Gibson SG Standard (name to be determined . . . let me know if you have any suggestions). I've been pumping it through a Marshall MG50DFX and have been delighted with the results so far. The guitar plays incredibly cleanly; it's comfortable in my hands and looks awesome strapped to my chest.

For those wondering . . . yes, this guitar is way nicer than someone of my skill level needs. But I really like it and expect its awesomeness to help motivate me to new levels of playing.

I expect to spend a lot of time in the next week learning all 3 of the songs in the AC/DC repertoire.

building a robot army that rocks

1. Go here: http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/RobotGuitarVideoVoting.aspx
2. View the video called, "Instructions"
3. Shit your pants with glee

vacation

I've been on vacation for the last 5 days here on the East Coast, and it's awesome! I was pretty darn desperate for a vacation and it's nice to finally be on one!

After 4 days in Boston for Christmas, I'm back in New York now for tonight's big event . . . my engagement party! My mom has set it up at the Kittle House and it promises to be REALLY fun. Megan's headed down with her family as we speak, I've got some news dress-clothes (thanks to my mom's Hanukkah present!) and my relatives are all coming . . . I'm getting excited!

Being engaged is a pleasure with all of the parties and gifts I've been receiving; so much fun I'm glad we've designed not to get married until 2009 . . .

check me out!

I was catching up on some HPC news out in the blog-o-sphere today, when I discovered that a video of my explaining some of our new product features was posted up on Channel 9. So if you'd like to learn a little about what I work on, or just hear the sound of my voice, check it out.

Hopefully I don't embarrass myself too much.

sad news for seattle music

Bobby just told me: The Croc is closing.

what took you so long?

The Times ran a piece today on airlines planning to offer wireless internet in-flight. I used Boeing's in-flight system a couple of year's ago, but the business model wasn't working for them and the system is now "defunct."

It's no surprise to me that JetBlue is the first airline planning to offer the service. It's also no surprise that they won't be charging (at least at first). Personally I feel this is a longtime coming. I'm sick and tired of airplanes and hotels that don't have wireless internet. I'm also sick and tired of paying exorbitant fees for internet access (which costs the providers very little), but that's a rant for a different day . . .

seattle tourist tips from the new york times

The Times' Frugal Traveller hit up Seattle recently, and wrote up the details of his trip. Most of the place on his itinerary were familiar, including The Triple Door and Daily Dozen (both within a block of my apartment). Some of the places he mentions I've seen but never been to; I will need to add them to my itinerary next time I have a visitor . . .

keeping our carpets clean

Megan and I bought a bottle of this stuff yesterday in an attempt to make our place less disgusting, and it was AMAZING. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that I'm now fearing for my health . . . I have serious doubts that a solvent this powerful is safe to inhale or touch.


Of course, all this is just in preparation for the arrival of our Roomba 570 vacuum cleaning robot, which thanks to Bobby we are uber-psyched to play with. I honestly didn't think the day would come so soon when I when order a robot over the internet.

God, I feel so domestic.