Libby Says...
Some of my very close friends have been passing around the Getting to Know You quiz over the past frew days. One nice thing is that very few of their answers surprised me, so I guess that means we know each other fairly well (which is cool, since I've been friends with some of them since my freshman year in college). I haven't sent it back to the group yet, although I will, but I thought I'd post here -- maybe some of you will be inspired to answer, too. 1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? If I could build a house anywhere and be certain I could still visit all my friends with alarming regularity (or even better, have them nearby), I think I might choose the coast of Ireland -- it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. 2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? I have some very squishy soft red sweats that I love to wear, so they're high on the list. If we're talking about something else someone might see me in, I just bought a beautiful red and black silk shirt while I was in Houston with my friend Cindy, and it's got this very nice v-neck to show off the beautiful rubies that my mom bought me recently, so I keep looking for excuses to wear that. 3. FAVORITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE _ OPPOSITE (or TARGET)_ SEX? One favorite, hm? Not easy. I think I'd have to go with whatever feature they like best about themselves -- we all have one and if you watch a person, they probably broadcast it. If I have to be more generic than that, I love a nice smile (broad hunky shoulders and a cute butt aren't too bad either, but....) 4. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? While we were in New York for my birthday, we escaped a rainy night hanging out in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I think we bought the soundtrack to the current broadway production of Man of La Mancha and I bought a greatest hits of Level 42. 5. WHERE'S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PLACE TO BE? I don't really like being in a middle seat on an airplane, when the person in front of you puts his seat all the way back and the people on both sides don't give you even one armrest... It's a basic dislike of being squished, I guess, and having no personal space. 6. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED? I'm torn between the feet and the head. 7. WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY? Strong in mind. Body is important, don't get me wrong, and I'm working every day to be stronger in body, but it's really all about the mind. When my dad was sick, before he died, he lost strength and ability to do things, but he didn't really seem to give up until he started getting fuzzy mentally. 8. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? M-W-F, I'm up around 6 to get to the gym before work. If I'm not going to the gym or excercising before work, I'll sleep as late as I can before the dog makes me get up -- 7:15, 7:30 if I'm lucky. 9. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? Espresso maker -- not for the espresso, which I don't really drink very often, but for the milk steamer. Lately I've been making chai tea with steamed milk all the time. 10. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY? Bigotry. Of any kind. Lack of common sense and common courtesy. Aggressive stupidity. 11. IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Guitar -- I like to sing and always wanted to be able to be one of those people who could whip out a guitar and accompany myself, especially when we go somewhere like camping or to the beach. A guitar is much more portable than a piano. 12. FAVORITE COLOR? Usually, it's green. Lately, I've been all about red. Deep ruby red. 13. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV? Sports car -- I love my little Miata. 14. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE? Like most of my friends, I don't think I have enough information to really answer this one, but I think something happens, yes. I think the most likely thing is some kind of reincarnation. 15. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? If we can call The Hobbit a children's book, I'm all over it. I happen to love children's literature, though, so there are a lot of favorites... Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The Giving Tree and the Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein. Charlotte's Web, and even more, the Trumpet of the Swan... Some other favorites: Little Women, The Five Little Peppers, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lloyd Alexander Prydain chronicles, anything by Dr. Seuss, The Polar Express, Eloise... 16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Even more than a single season, I like the change of seasons (which, of course, we really don't get in California). If I had to pick one, I think I like fall best -- it's cool, it's time to make soups and stews and chili again, it seems very right to curl up by the fireplace with a book and some hot cocoa... It has always felt like a very reflective time of year to me... 17. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? The ability to take pain away from other people. 18. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT? I don't. And likely wouldn't. 19. CAN YOU JUGGLE? Balls or pins or something? Physically? No. Tasks? All the time. 20. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO? That's an easy one -- my dad. He died when I was 19 and I've missed him every day since then. 21. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY? Christmas. I'm a big Christmas person. Spirit of Christmas personified -- that's me. ;-) 22. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR? Miata -- well, if you can really call it a trunk, it's mostly taken up by the CD changer that's in there... There might be an old baseball scorecard, a blanket, and a baseball cap in there, too. CRV -- a big blanket for Yogi to lay on when he rides in the car, some water bottles to be recycled, a sweatshirt, a clipboard for scoring baseball games... 23. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? Ooooh. Tough. I guess I'd have to say hamburger -- it's one of my favorite comfort foods. 24. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? Well, since I'm posting it in the blogsphere, I'll guess which of my blogger friends might:I'm going to guess either Jess or Ed. (Nothing like a little pressure, hmm?) If I were sending it to my friends and family... Um...well. The ones who're likely to respond mostly have done. Of course, my friend Cindy thought I'd be first and the pressure didn't quite work for me -- I didn't get around to it all week! 25. WHO'S LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Chris 26. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM? Cindy, Chris, Guy, and JF 27. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CARTOON? I was only allowed to watch one cartoon at home as a kid -- Superfriends -- I guess that would have to be my favorite still. 28. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL? There've been many votes for Thanksgiving and that's pretty high on my list -- especially if I'm cooking it -- Turkey rubbed with lemon and thyme; homemade cranberry sauce (no rings for me!); butternut squash soup; sweet potatoes, mashed with onions and chicken broth; pumpkin and apple pie; home-baked bread... My mouth is watering just thinking about it. But the real answer is that it's any meal I can share with a big group of my friends and/or family. 29. If you could only choose one fantasy servant, who would it be (chauffeur/gardener/cook/masseuse/other)? Masseur. No doubt about it. I'm a sucker for massages now. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Thursday's Games: Houston 6, Milwaukee 1 Cubs 7, Reds 9 Result - Houston and Chicago tied for 1st in the Central and tied at 3 games back for the Wild Card Friday's Games: Houston vs. Milwaukee tonight Cubs vs. Pirates -- rained out Result - Always a good thing when the bad guys have to play a double-header. Even though the game won't be important, I am going to the last Saturday night game at the Q (Qualcomm stadium in SD) tomorrow night -- Padres vs. Colorado Rockies... We have great seats -- they're actually on the field. There's a box on the third base side, right in front of the visiting team's dugout and a friend of ours buys these tickets for one game every year. Tomorrow's game is it for this year. These seats are directly behind where the cameras are and have nothing in front of them, so you have to pay very close attention to any fouls that come off toward that side... so you can duck when necessary. To get to the seats, you actually do walk on the field -- so you definitely don't go to the bathroom during any important plays --- you can't! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Ed posted this link in the comments recently and I thought I'd make sure you all saw it -- it gives joy to both my geek side and baseball side... We can look for 802.11B at the ballparks soon -- You can read about it at the Wi-Fi Networking News and from the Sacramento River Cats themselves. Hopefully major league teams will catch up to this quickly! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, thanks for those of you who commented on Monday's blog, I guess. Most of you aren't helping me out though -- rooting for the Cards or Cubbies -- thanks a lot guys. Today finds the Cubs all alone out in first place -- they were a whole game up on my 'Stros as of this morning, but we beat the Giants 2-1 today, with Roy Oswalt pitching a one-hitter. Wagner also pitched for his 44th save, trying to come back from the agonizing 3-home run outing he had two days ago. Whew. So, going into their game today, Cubs have a .5 game lead. Lose, Cubbies, Lose! We're really down to the wire this season, with the "magic number" for the Cubs being 5 (meaning a combination of 5 wins for the Cubs and losses for the Astros for the Cubs to clinch the division). 5 is also the "elimination" number for the Astros -- meaning if the combination hits 5 losses for us and wins for them, we're out it. The elimination number for the Cards is only 2. Since we have to look at it this way for the moment, the Astros are also 2 1/2 games back for the Wild Card, behind Florida and Philadelphia. Cubs have two more games against Cincy and then their last three games are against the Pirates. They also get to play their last games at home in the friendly confines of Wrigley. The Cards play one more game against Milwaukee today, have a day off, and then play three against the Diamondbacks, in Arizona. One more thought about the race in the NL Central -- what would happen if for some wacko reason we ended up with a 3-way tie? Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated addressed that question in a recent Baseball Mailbag column:
Wacky. Today's Wall Street Journal had a great article about how thankless a job scoring baseball games is on their front page today (apologies for the general link -- you have to pay to get to their articles). Coincidentally enough, the article centers around a guy who scores for the Astros and talks about a recent game between Houston and St. Louis, in which a ball hit by Jeff Kent fell in the outfield between Renteria and Edmonds. He ended up scoring it a single, even though either one of them could've gotten an error for the play. In this case, he probably didn't get any angry calls, but he has in many other situations, based on how the players' contracts are now written, so that their compensation is tied to hits or pitching or whatever... Of course, the story also talks about how little a scorer gets paid, just as the added benefit to his getting screamed at by players and managers -- the scorer in this story makes $125 per game and gets to see the games for free, although he sits in the press box and often wears headphones to keep from getting distracted. Clearly, a part-time second job that carries plenty of potential stress. Still, as a baseball scoring aficionado myself, I could probably put up with getting yelled at and getting paid a pittance to get to be a professional baseball scorer. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As we get sooooo close to the end of the baseball season (Sunday is the last day of the regular season), it's time for some baseball blogging -- here are some links you might enjoy. The Baseball News Blog Aaron's Baseball Blog The Astros, Cubs, and Cardinals are still all in it in the NL Central -- I've gotta tell ya -- it's kiling me! Astros dropped two of three to the Cardinals (I don't want to hear a word from you, Mr. St. Louis) and then lost a heartbreaker tonight to the Giants. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Some other members of our blogging community, who shall remain nameless, have smacked me around for not blogging enough this week. Yes, I was a lazy blogger. Well, actually, I was recovering from my travels and being tired and trying to get caught up on just being at home. Those excuses don't go nearly as far as they used to, apparently. I'm in a book-y mood, so here's some book blogging... From the List of Bests site, list of all the Booker Prize winners. I've only read five of them (shame on me, hunh? how dare I call myself an English Lit graduate?) -- my favorite was probably The Blind Assassin. We read it for our book club a while ago, and I think I was the only one in the book club who actually liked the story within a story format. Some other recent reads: The Virgin Blue, by Tracy Chevalier I enjoyed the read, although if you look at the book critically, it's a bit contrived in the coincidences and you don't quite have the appropriate level of sympathetic understanding for Ella, the modern-day protagonist. If I Never Get Back, by Darryl Brock If you're a baseball fan, this book is so fun -- it takes you back to the very beginnings of professional baseball and shows you what went on behind the scenes. I'm already working on the second book, Two In the Field. Also, an interesting site for people who like words (via Dan Gillmor): his (with Dave Weinberger) WordPirates site. Beware -- some people are posting some fairly crude things and abusing the point, but there are also some interesting words on there. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I may have brought the good weather to Houston, but I brought the opposite to San Francisco this week -- it was HOT. I've turned into a big heat wimp (especially when I'm expecting something completely different), so it was somewhat uncomfortable in the usually cool and breezy Bay Area. I flew in early Tuesday and high-tailed it to the IBM offices in downtown SF for the SF User Group meeting. David Stephens gave a good presentation on preventing spam in ND6 and I talked replication. I'll be reprising the session at an upcoming SD User Group meeting as well. A different version of the session (longer, more in-depth) will be airing at the View's Technical Exchange conference in Amsterdam in a few weeks (I'll be in Europe October 11-19th). The rest of the SF week was spent visiting vendors with one of our sales team, capped off with a Friday afternoon interview with IBM's Larry Bowden, and some nice visiting with some of my best friends, who now live in SF. We ate dinner out, had some blueberry cosmopolitans, bought the 2nd season of Angel on DVD, and had an Angel-a-thon complete with too much food and intermissions spent playing Soul Caliber II. The friends I have in SF are ones I've been close to since college -- and it's amazing how close-knit we can still be as a group despite marriages, divorces (or the serious relationship comparable version thereof), living at times in multiple cities (Houston, SF, SD, Ivrea, etc), and the 10+ years that have passed since graduation. I'm so lucky to have these folks (well, to be less self-effacing, we're lucky to have each other). I guess it's that shared history thing that makes us all so comfortable and secure with each other. (For anyone curious, Angel's 2nd season is very good -- I didn't see it the first time around and enjoyed the first half of the season immensely -- dark and funny at the same time, which seems to be a Joss Whedon trademark.) You'll hear more about my conversation with Larry in upcoming articles on e-ProMag.com, but here's something of a preview. First, let me say that Larry is always a very engaging person to talk to -- he's smart and well-informed. One of the nicest traits is either that he's got a heck of a memory or does his homework before he walks into a meeting -- he always remembers me, the previous times we've talked, and has something to say about the recent issues of the magazine. The feeling that the exec you're talking to you is familiar with you makes the process easier and more comfortable and isn't the kind of respect awarded to our magazine by all the IBM execs we meet with (although Larry is certainly not the only one who does it). We talked mostly, as you might expect, about the Workplace product line. Larry hit the nail on the head when he said that he expects it to take 7-8 hearings for the Workplace strategy to really start to resonate with customers and business partners (and, although he was too politic to say it, press). For those of use who have made our careers with Notes and Domino, it continues to feel very unfamiliar and we're not sure whether to send our Domino expertise to the scrap-heap and start over or to ignore the oncoming train, confident that there's a second track for it. It seems that the truth of the matter is this: It depends. If you work for or serve (or want to be) large enterprise customers, you need to be changing your skillset. You need to learn WebSphere -- Application Server, Portal, Studio, etc., including all the attendant products, languages, and platforms. In fact, from the way it sounds, you're already well on your way to doing so. If you have more of a small-to-medium business focus (or you are a line-of-business user who also does some development), you may not need to jump into the new learning to far or so deeply. Your first step is probably to upgrade to the soon-to-be-released Notes and Domino 6.5. That doesn't sound so painful. I can't announce all the things I know will be coming with that, but trust me that it's your first step down the path of the future, but in a good way. Suffice it to say that you won't have to throw away all your skillset and knowledge just to use the new workplace products. And of course, as Larry was quick to say, Domino and Notes as they are now will continue to be supported and maintained for the forseeable future. In any case, more on Workplace, products to look for in the near future, and other details on my talk with Larry in an upcoming editorial. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Not much specific to talk about today. I'm in SF and Oakland for business. I worked a bit this morning and then picked up one of our sales guys at the airport and drove down to go to a meeting with a vendor. Would you believe that we got stood up? That seems so incredibly rude to me. I'm nowhere near perfect, but if you have an appointment, how do you feel good about being out town the day the people show up for the appointment, with no phone call, no e-mail, and no message left at the office for the people who came from a different city for the meeting? I just don't get it. Via Ned Batchelder's blog, the Retail Alphabet Game is a hoot. It's a true test of how succesful some of the branding is today -- they show a letter with a graphical treatment, and you have to indicate where it comes from -- what brand or advertisement. I have to admit, I didn't do all that well -- but it was interesting to see which letters I knew without even thinking about it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I flew to Houston on Saturday morning (go frequent flyer miles!) and it was the nicest early September weekend in Houston -- much less humidity than usual (down from 90+% to more like 40%) and not nearly as hot as usual (80s not 90s or 100s). Don't know quite how I did it, but everyone told me I'd brought SD weather with me when I arrived. Yay me! Sitting at a Starbucks to do my work today and thinking how very interesting the people watching is. Everyone here for about the last two hours was working -- it begins to look more like a "rent an office" setup -- people were having business meetings, doing interviews, working on laptops, studying... It's amazing how the culture of the coffee shop is less about relaxation, reading, chatting with friends and more about work, now that they have the t-mobile wireless hotspots. I'm not sure that's the only reason the culture exists as it does, but it seems at least partially responsible. I had a great conversation with my friend Paul yesterday about baseball scoring and scorecards. We were basically designing our ideal scorecard. It's kind of fun to know another baseball scoring geek -- especially since I've known Paul for almost 10 years and didn't know he was a baseball geek until yesterday. These are mockups -- what you're seeing here is that the batter had a single to left that resulted in an RBI (indicated by the dot). He moved to second base on a hit by the batter whose number is 15 (if you're an Astros fan, that's Richard Hidalgo). The boxes on the bottom would show balls and strikes. I like the version on the left better, but they both are fairly effective. Of course, we also had to talk about how many lines we'd leave for substitutions, how we'd track pitching info, etc... All in all, instead of an 8 1/2 x 11 scorecard, I'm starting to think it might need to be legal-size paper! I'm getting ready to head out to San Francisco in the morning. I'll be speaking at their user group meeting, talking about replication, certification, the magazine, and the future of Notes/Domino/Workplace... I may actually be doing that prz three or four times in the next few weeks -- I'm also speaking at the SD user group and possibly the Orange County group. Making me tired just thinking about it. ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I'm back! And the first thing I did wasn't blog here, oh, no -- instead, I heisted Chris's blog -- go check it out. Now that I'm back from there, too, I'll say a few (a very few) words about my nice Labor day weekend -- I went up to Portland, OR to visit my mom. And for all you folks in PDX that I know, please don't be offended that I didn't make time for you -- I haven't been up to visit my mom in waaayy too long and wanted to spend some quality time -- I promise I'll save a dinner or something for the gang next time I'm up in your neck of the woods. In fact, we didn't actually spend any time in Portland itself -- we drove to the Oregon coast, which is quite beautiful in a rough and grey sort of way. The beaches were rocky and windswept, and the ocean was that peculiar mix of grey and blue that always seems to mean winter to me, even though it was still August. The land on the other side of the street from the water is covered with trees -- mostly pine -- and the road is twisting and narrow. We stopped at a lighthouse near Newport, Oregon -- the very historic and very windy Yaquina Head lighthouse. We also spent a few hours wandering around the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I have to admit, I love watching the seals, sea lions, and otters swim, but I didn't like the part where you walk through a tunnel and there are fish all around. I also didn't particularly like the tanks -- the glass is magnified in a way that makes me dizzy! But I'm glad we went -- I don't think I've been to an aquarium as an adult -- maybe as a teenager with my grandparents... We stayed in Depoe Bay and wandered around both Newport and Lincoln City before we drove back to Portland on Saturday. The best part about the weekend was spending time talking with my mom -- we have a some great conversations -- she knows me better than anyone and it's very comforting to have someone you know you can say absolutely anything to and know they won't judge you and will give you only advice that comes from a desire for whatever's best for you -- that's how you know a true friend. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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