Sunday, November 20, 2005

What you do when someone leaves? Ah you grieve.

The film "Walk the Line" is a masterpiece. Shotguns for love.

My best friend Julie is moving out to Algeria, to live with the North African Blue Skinned people - the Tuaregs, so we're playing Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails "Hurt", here's the lyrics:

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear my crown of shit
On my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

__________


Artist? An Artist contacted me? Try not to act too excited. So the other album/video Julie is taking with her to Africa is the Ethan Coen film, "Oh Brother where art thou?"

Do seek the treasure. Do seek the treasure. Do seek the treasure.

__________

What an odd mood I am in, listening to the Chieftains and reading the lyrics which run into little streamlets and springs that become another set of songs, bursting through Pearl Jam, into Bob Dylan's Black Diamond Bay

Up on the white veranda
She wears a necktie and a Panama hat
Her passport shows another face
From another time and place
She looks nothing like that
And all the remnants of her recent past
Are scattered in the wild wind
She walks across the marble floor
Where a voice from the gambling room is calling her to come on in
She smiles, walks the other way
As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
From Black Diamond Bay.

As the morning light breaks open the Greek comes down
And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
"Pardon monsieur" the desk clerk says
Carefully removes his fez
"Am I hearing you right ?"
And as the yellow fog is lifting
The Greek is quickly heading for the second floor
She passes him on the spiral staircase
Thinking he's the Soviet Ambassador
She starts to speak, but he walks away
As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches away
On Black Diamond Bay.

A soldier sits beneath the fan
Doing business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
Lightning strikes, the light blow out
The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
"Can you see anything ?"
Then the Greek appears on the second floor
In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
Says "Open up another deck"
But the dealer say "Attendez-vous, s'il vous plait"
As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
Black Diamond Bay

_______________________________________________

Somehow this song reminds me of the same kind of story, feeling,
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds/


(I'll Love You) Till the End of the World
It was a miracle I even got out of Longwood alive,
this town full of men with big mouths and no guts;
I mean if you can just picture it,
the whole third floor of the hotel gutted by the blast
and the street below showered in shards of broken glass,

and all the drunks pouring out of the dance halls
staring up at the smoke and the flames;
and the blind pencil seller waving his stick
shouting for his dog that lay dead on the side of the road;
and me, if you can believe this,
at the wheel of the of the car
closing my eyes and actually praying;
not to God above but to you, saying:

Help me, girl; help me, girl
I'll love you till the end of the world
With your eyes black as coal
and your long dark curls

Some things we plan,
we sit and we invent and we plot and cook up;
others are works of inspiration, of poetry;
and it was this genius hand that pushed me up the hotel stairs
to say my last goodbye
to a hair as white as snow and of pale blue eyes
saying:
I gotta go; I gotta go,
the bomb in the bread basket are ready to blow

in this town of men with big mouths and no guts,
the pencil seller's dog, spooked by the explosion,
leaping under my wheels as I careered out of Longwood
on my way to you waiting in your dress,
in your dress of blue

I said:
Thank you, girl; thank you, girl
I'll love you till the end of the world
with your eyes black as coal
and your long, dark curls

and with the horses prancing through the fields,
with my knife in my jeans and the rain on the shield;
I sang a song for the glory of the beauty of you
waiting for me
in your dress of blue

Thank you, girl. Thank you, girl
I'll love you till the end of the world
with your eyes black as coal
and your long, dark curls



Then into The Donagal Set by the Chieftains, toned down by Chalkhills and Children, XTC's brilliant open letter to America, Oranges and Lemons.

Telluride Sessions, One Wintery Night, by Strength in Numbers. I blasted past The Locks of Dread. And wound up writing about it faster than I could tell you this story so I stopped right here.

Ah Pink Floyd in Paris, but 6 Turned Out to Be 9. Jimi hi Jimi. "It's a beautiful day", When I come around, Green Day, Dookie, Long view.

Humans From Earth, T-Bone Burnett

We come from a blue planet light-years away
Where everything multiplies at an amazing rate
We're out here in the universe buying real estate
Hope we haven't gotten here too late

chorus:
We're humans from earth
We're humans from earth
You have nothing at all to fear
I think we're gonna like it here

We're looking for a planet with atmosphere
Where the air is fresh and the water clear
With lots of sun like you have here
Three or four hundred days a year

chorus

Bought Manhatten for a string of beads
Brought along some gadgets for you to see
Heres a crazy little thing we call TV
Do you have electricity?

chorus

I know we may seem pretty strange to you
But we got know-how and a golden rule
We're here to see manifest destiny through
Ain't nothing we can't get used to

We're humans from earth
We're humans from earth

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Good Friday Quake in Anchorage

My mom headed Damage Control after the Good Friday quake in Alaska in April 1964 - it was not discussed much but 4 days after the earthquake a team was sent up O'Malley Road to the rich house of the head of the civil organization designed to respond in case of an emergency. He and his entire immediate family were discovered huddled in their living room wrapped in blankets with no heat, no food or drink, and not even the fireplace burning, with the head of the household repeating over and over again - "the world has come to an end". He had lost it.

Some people are not actually capable of responding in a emergency whether they are listening to a reading of "My pet goat" and being told their country is under attack, or while on vacation being told that one of the largest cities in the country is now devastated and underwater and needs their help.

People like my mom can arise and step up to the challenge as long as no one is holding a gun pointed at their head and telling them to stop.

We need to issue a Press Pass to everyone in the country so they can be free to move about.

Also a plan and deploy approach to managing civil order makes sense.

In my Mom's case she set up the Civil Disaster Headquarters with all available volunteer civil engineers, architects, building inspectors, planners, and people capable of estimating damage and handling emergency rescue operations (meeting first in the Z. J. Loussac Public Library.)

A man drove up a front loader and some kind of truck and strode into the headquarters offering to sell his services and rent his gassed up heavy equipment for $50 an hour -- the men in the room took one look at the guy and without breaking their discussion on evacuating Seward, and other communities, as one picked the man up by all four limbs and heaved him out of the office, just as if it was part of their mission.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Buy the finest photographs in online Auction for Katrina's Relief Efforts



Photographers offer their finest work to auction on Flickr to benefit the Katrina Relief Efforts through the Red Cross. Bid on a stunning photo for a great cause. Together we can help set things right!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction/discuss/80237/






Thursday, August 25, 2005

SF Cliff house faux bois garden

Hedgehogs, each black nail polished to a hearty shine, pinkies up like at tea, dunking rottweilers in chocolate sauce, because it matches their coat, addressed with a robust jewel color'd wine, guess which jewel? The soup, of course, Borscht, hold the turnips (no really, please do), the sober crown of dignified white sour cream with the rubied red running up and melting the white volcano into vast decors of pink pink pink and I at sea remembering only the glass curtain marked :: Deux exMachina:: Deux exMachina :: dribbled silver drops of white into the sheer magnificent blue see not one of them barked in complaint, they licked off the chocolate and asked for borscht, "Can I have a little more please sir" eyes doleful and smoking violence, when really all they wanted was pink cream to lap and a hug from their captor, drunk or not.

More blogs about wonderlane.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Describe some of your experiences writing functional/technical specs?

To produce functional docs I use Word, Project, Visio, Graphics, RAID (product studio), and other product management applications. Sometimes a graphic showing flows can render needs much more clearly than tables can alone.

Generally I conduct research discussing the product with managers and developers who have already worked on the project (sometimes also networking and support staff). I use existing records in product studio (RAID) and read the existing documentation, case studies, and user interface and security audits. Traffic records and support totals can all be gleaned for information. In the future I hope to also have the opportunity to review child and personal safety documentation as it becomes available.

Microsoft's Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) has changed due to new regulation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which requires traceability through financial functions which will help to standarize development documentation.

Just recently working on launching MSN Spaces, I worked more on the end of a product lifecycle, I documented the support process for MSN worldwide, researched policies and procedures and re-wrote the policy (with the Microsoft Policy unit), wrote go to market (GTM) documentation and marketed Spaces to a local radio station going live with streaming media (107.7 The End - Entercom). That was fun!

When I assisted in creating the functional specification for Microsoft's Order Management 5.0 product, it was based in part on two reports I wrote, one a study on user interfaces and one recommending adding an admin / dashboard interface, and on discussions about how successful user interface design works, and the knowledge it is based upon.

In the beginning I drew wireframes and layouts on paper and eventually did full page layouts and integrated them with the functional specification, including Visio data flows.

While there I designed product logos for three product groups at Microsoft, in quick succession - one proposal had 25 varations on a theme (just for fun!)

Worked on building the first ever web application used at the 2 billion dollar a year medical insurance firm Premera, with a team of developers and development managers I supervised the entire software development lifecycle for RapidRate, including functional specifications. BlinkIA performed the usability testing, and a security firm from Kirkland did the security audit for me and the eBusiness teams.

Reviewed a number of end-to-end enterprise software lifecycle solutions covering requirements definition and management, code and content development, and change and configuration management, with a focus on administration tracking and functionality over the web. My pick for the winning application was Starbase, purchased shortly after by Borland.

Mapped business processes for larger firms, and developed complete end-to-end processes for the eCommerce ASP Pandesic, which we used to release all subsequent large ecommerce sites.

I studied writing effective use cases class while at Microsoft in 2003.

More blogs about wonderlane.

What are the greatest accomplishments in your career? Why?

I have enjoyed several neato accomplishments in my career.

My great team being responsible for releasing nearly 50 ecommerce sites to the world in 2000, because it was a lot of fun at an exciting time. Silicon valley was hopping in 2000. Helping my staff & team members to grow both personally and professionally-- because it's great to see them take off and grow. Having them accompany me to the next firm we worked for was very personally rewarding.

The single largest application I worked on was designing Microsoft's UI and helping to develop the specifications for Order Management 5.0 in 2003. I believe the advise I gave helped the redesign of the entire application including the onboarding of new products.

Recently helping a global virtual team work with MSN and Microsoft to update their child and personal safety viewpoint and develop apps and enhance their safety process activities worldwide was a wonderful experience. It will be a great advancement that will affect millions of people's lives worldwide.

When have you had to make feature trade offs? What happened as a result?

Seems like the need to make feature trade offs always happens!

It was particularly painful once when the business wanted to cut probably the most important and simple data input feature to get the product launched before the competition (based on faulty competitive research), but as expected the customers complained about the lack.

The product went back into dev for a revision immediately, meanwhile the competition did not even release a similar version for more than a year.

So while we got the product out the door, it was not nearly as robust as it could have been, on the other hand, the group looked very responsive to our customer base because we could make the changes so quickly, in the face of no competition at all.

How do you prioritize features?

Prioritizing features is specific to each company but in general it is done in consideration of customer's needs or by the willingness of a client to pay for the feature, or with an eye to competitors feature sets, or the need to grow the feature set to attract and retain customers.

You balance what the business needs are against the amount of time they require and determine which features are the most likely to be completed and add any 2-for-1 features where adding one thing will also cure another.

In a worst case you have to prioritize a fix for something that is costing too much to support, or is truly broken or causes damage to data such as corruption.

What can cause a product to slip? How do you safeguard against this?

The most common factor in a product slipping is scope creep but it can also occur for a variety of reasons such as lack of resources, which includes information about other products that yours interacts with. This is both the strong suit and the potential weakness of .NET.

For example MS Messenger Service can solve a lot of security issues, when you know how it functions and can test it.

Doing more project planning with dependencies worked in, and resource planning helps.

Letting management know what the limitations are especially when you can not effect needed changes directly from your own level helps safeguard things over time. In this way you are asking for resources before it becomes too late, or making it clear what the results will be if the resources are not available, or if you don't get the information you need on time, raising any issues that can potentially cause product release slipage.

It is important to put this kind of information into written, not just verbal, reports.

How do you go about developing a good design?

Developing good design intiality can be instant, but then refined iteraratively. If working with other people agreeing on a style of working together, process, and communication are very important.

Depends on what I am designing but generally I start on paper and work through wireframes and the relationship to other products, flesh out the design and maybe do a high end first pass.

I like to gather other people's opinions and datapoints so I will show it around and ask for input. Make some changes and go to the next step.

Sometimes a project also requires advising people what they need to learn or to understand in order to accomplish a very flexible interface. Elements like using the proportion of the golden rectangle (also called the "golden mean") makes user interface design beautiful.

Visio plans often help in visualization for everyone involved.

When we have something we are somewhat happy with I like to run it through user interface studies, even if they are informal using volunteers or paying to do a brief study. Oftentimes this will back up what you already believe about a design but what is really great is when you learn something totally unexpected and you can use it.

With my experience in fine art and design, I enjoy the critical review cycle, but it's always nice to give some positive feedback.

Most of my work is in product or program management so in this way I work interactively with lots of very smart people to design a composite of what we need, using the best ideas and best practices in a cooperative manner.

When designing a small business website, after meeting with the client I begin by structuring the information, and visualizing the look and feel of their site design. Then I follow my iterative process as time and their budget permits.

What is your definition of a well-designed product? Example/Why?

A well designed product is one which seamlessly performs as the customer thinks it should, and expects it to, and is easy to use.

An example is a product which gets fewer support calls.

Another definition is a product that is reliable, and doesn't cause systems or the OS to fail in the worse case, or leaks memory. On the web you don't want to over burden the client or make too many trips to the server.

A well designed product is one that in a way you don't notice, because nothing bugs you. A poorly designed product, for example is one that you can't even authenticate (in otherwords you can't use your userid and password to get into or there are severe complications.)

For an example of a good platform design; within the .Net framework, code is compiled rather than interpreted as ASP script is; this aids in early binding of objects directly resulting in performance gains. Since state management is handled within .Net, lines of code can be eliminated and this reduces the time required to load functionality.

Less processing time between pages contributes to an improved end user experience. A cleaner code set makes upfront development costs per feature less expensive, Web applications quicker to test and deploy, and as a bonus are easier to maintain and update.

I think a great product should be fun to use.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Friday, July 15, 2005

New Moon’s Senior ADvisor on Removing Bio-InfoExtremists

Compiled from Several Sources by Wonderlane

CNNBCMS
Monday, July 15, 2205; Posted: 47:08 post meridian, NMSGST (10:08 NWT)

Hon. Zevre Plutonium Farrahsum, New Moon’s ADvisor, called on peace publishers to flag extremism from their information systems, at a rate accepted by national forums.

STARGATE, Newmoon (CNNBCMS) – NewMoon Lead ADvisor, Hon. Zevre Plutonium Farrahsum, pays peace enforcement groups to launch a systemwide campaign against banned bio- and info-extremist groups, targeting their fundstreams, bioweapons and netmeetings.

This campaign aims to flag all "hate" material from public, private and online markets for auto-deletion and removal by the next revolution. His directive appeared at the announcement of an alleged NewMoon connection in yesterday’s terrorist information bombings in NuLondon and Singarich databanks.

Addressing top education officers from around the system, Farrahsum said the ruling corporate government will not tolerate extremism, nor bio-nilism and will continue to combat bioterrorism "with unflinching force of will maintaining an open civilization where all beings are educated, free and unafraid, because doing so is in the interest of New Moon’s continued astro-social economic progress, and it is agreed to public moral policy” according to his statement released on New Moon’s Public Announcements videosite.

Father of one of the plain humans suspected of being the NuLondon biocide bomber -- Sazhawa Ta’ Weer, 21 std. solar years -- told us via live connection the family is of NewMoon origin, born and raised in the neighborhood of Londinum. Although they are members of one of the non-engineered human religions, the family spokesperson said "We are appalled! The shame of this act! This is our home." and weaping asked the reporters present, "She couldn't really do this, could she? This is why we left Earth."

Announcing the bombings, Farrahsum expressed condolences to the families of the biobombing victims, pledging assistance in the investigation and insisted that New Moon plays a crucial role in the war against bioterror.

He restated the corporate government’s directive not to allow banned militant organizations to resurface under new names in their attempt to gain new sources of fundstreams and webpub sources, as detailed on the illuminated hologram freesite.

Currently, both paid and free blogs, adwriters, software and game publishers and distributors are banned from publishing and distributing hate material, including popups, TVlets and massive mutual play categories, the statement read. All bio-genome science developers were already onboard as of the prior information convention. Robotic categories are not expected to be affected.

Farrahsum emphasized to peace officers that his actions are aimed at the extremist minority harming New Moon’s public and private interests and corrupting the previously unsullied image of bio-diversity, including the mutant categories.

"While some governments can afford to be anti-biology – New Moon is an ideological place as a galactic democracy welcoming hybrids from all compatible biological types. We are a dynamically diverse off-world corpfunded state," he said, “We are not a bio-isolated island.”

"We owe it to future generations to rid our hearts of the malaise of bio and info-extremism," he stated in his public site, “we seek only to fulfill the mission statement of New Moon’s founders.”

For more new scenes from BioInfomatic Diversity see ENGenious

Thursday, July 14, 2005

We are not afraid

Looks like terror bombing London won't work you guys.

It just makes them publish sites like WE ARE NOT AFRAID So hey, opportunistic radicals, get a clue, believing in terror as a political expediant - it will only serve to drive people closer together.

Ya outta quit while you still have a shred of self respect, not to mention any volunteer victims of your misdriven idealism and hatred who blow themselves up! Talk about stupid. Take the time off to get in touch with your inner child.

Cause these folks have and, heck they are not afraid.

CNN reference

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Staying in a beautiful hotel in California

I stayed in the most unique hotel and ate within the most romantic garden. I was treated to a fragrant orange spice tea served by a proper Spanish waiter, who gave me my choice from an old rosewood case, like a humidor for teas. The table was covered with formal yet warm white linens piled on top of each other and underlaid with padding on the table - a comfort for the elbows. A giant dark painting stretched behind the enclosure I sat in, with room for two tables of six people, Victorian floral upholstered seats against the wall.

The painting was decorated by a singing red, blue and gold feathered bird of paradise calling to his mate and a giant fine misted waterfall pouring rather tranquilly over orange brown rocks, worn from the work of it, directly out of a dense jungle. Behind this scene in the painting lay purple and blue misty mountains, surely the Himalayan before modern man, when elephants roamed the earth interbreeding with mastodons. When I say the paint was dark, it was mysterious; really the lighting was soft on it, the fixture being a 1890’s style of frosted yellow glass decorated with dogwood flowers and gaily strung strands of glass yellow beads around the rim hanging down from the ornately turned brass poles at the ceiling.

The sound and sight of the two lively and real waterfalls pouring over larger stones in the central courtyard of the hotel backed up the feeling of the painting, full of vines, ferns, and the moist ancient tropical day. In the pools at the base of the waterfalls, under the live and very green tropical plants swam koi; orange and white, yellow and black, many, maybe twenty the size of salmon. The waterfalls gurgled and sprinkled their tinkling sounds everywhere. The koi splashed occasionally lost within the greenery dipped in the ponds and swirling pools along the footpaths and under bridges inside the courtyard.

There are several levels to the restaurant, a feeling that around each turn you would find yet another unique vista. Now one group of people chatting under a bright lit and ivy covered rotunda, sitting on heavy black iron chairs, with a feather design in the back, yellow table clothes and a pendulum light fixture of thick carved glass and brightly polished holdings, now another cluster of folks, some techies, beneath a painting of the Indian subcontinent.

The dinner was a delight! Cagin’ blackened shrimp piled on a fine thick steak with buttered coated vegetables - tiny red potatoes, sliced red peppers, yellow squash, green broccoli - as if flowers decorating the rim of the plate, all perfection. A gently flickering candle also lit the table, with two fragrant pink carnations in a clear cut round glass vase. A fresh slice of lemon floated in the cold water glass, it glowed rather from being placed in front of the cut diamond shaped glass candleholder.

On the ledge of the enclosure is a huge bouquet of pink and white flowers with willow branches in a very large green ceramic pot about 2 and ½ feet tall and wide. Tulip lamps are placed around the restaurant and courtyard, in all the little crannies. The walls are a burnt orange color nearly the same as the stout polished marble columns of the same color. All the wide wooden trims are painted a cream color, the gazebo wood is painted a pale green with the same cream trim.

The dinner was an excuse for desert -- a burnt cream (cream bulee) – no doubt it is illegal in some countries it is so decadent and so good. I wonder if they use a flame thrower or butane torch to get that correct color and burned texture. And were does the cook keep his matches? Cold on the bottom, warm on top, served over a half-folded white doily with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberry with a fresh upright mint leaf.

Nearby in the bar a guitarist began playing a Californian melody. The 12 story hotel is balconied outside, surrounded with palm trees, and inside, with mother of pearl encased mirrors at the ends of the brick paved passageways, paintings of tigers, and of decorated elephants, with statutes of be-turbaned Orientals in splendid gold robes supporting lamps.

A large long dark mahogany desk and doors with brightly polished brass handles greet the hotel guest, it is very comfortable if not a little confining. Each store in the courtyard has a shaped green and cream cloth awning, with one in particular mirroring the architecture of the whole hotel in miniature and crowned with a fine gold and turquoise blue dome, intricately decorated with inch wide tile.

Fuzzy Logic Set Theory

Thinking about set theory, "Always, never, nearly, sometimes in and out" not that it has to make anything but fuzzy logic sense, but it has applications when thinking about security, and came up with the following:

Number Set Status Name Condition Status
1 Always In Always Out AIAO Considered, logic conflict
2 Always In Last In AILI Set
3 Always In Never Out AINO Set member
4 Always Out First out AOFO Considered rejected
19 Always Out Last Out AOLO Considered, logic conflict
5 First In Always In FIAI Set member
6 First In Always Out FIAO Considered, logic conflict
7 First in First out FIFO stack
8 First in Last out FILO stack
9 First in Never out FINO Set member
10 First Out Never In FONI Considered, rejected
11 Last In Always Out LIAO Closed, logic conflict
12 Last In First Out LIFO stack
13 Last In Last Out LILO stack
14 Last In Never Out LINO Set member
15 Last Out Always In LOAI Considered, logic conflict
16 Last Out Always Out LOAO Rejected, Closed Set
17 Never In First Out NIFO Considered, rejected
18 Never In Never Out NINO Unconsidered, unqualified

AIAO
AILI
AINO
AOFO
AOLO
FIAI
FIAO
FIFO
FILO
FINO
FONI
LIAO
LIFO
LILO
LINO
LOAI
LOAO
NIFO
NINO

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Senators, and political friends in Alaska when I was a kid

When I was a kid the people my family, specifically my Mom and her friends hung out with and supported with her brilliant design and political planning ideas were:

Bob Bartlett (US Senator)
Gene Guess aka Eugene Guess
Ernest Gruening (Governor Alaska Territory)
Wendell Kay

later Nick Begich
and always Yule Kilcher (State Senator)

When I was invited to see Jimmy Carter inaugurated president, it was planned that I spend time with (one term Senator) Mike Gravel's team in Washington D.C. But the city froze up - symbolic of how Carter, as an outsider, was treated by the Washington D.C. insiders, so the old D.C plumbing didn't work and the poor aide was not able to stay in his own place much less have a guest.

So I was directed to Senator Ted Stevens office to ask for a place to stay. The long hallways were made of marble, some of the stairs were completely worn down along the edges, and I was a bit afraid of the old brass elevators. Ted immediately arranged to put me up with an attorney staff member and his family.

Much richer and more formal that than Gravel's aide they were not from Alaska and did not understand this idea of welcoming a young girl on her first trip all alone Outside to the United States when she represented the opposing team. Plus they had a somewhat sick baby. I was appreciative of the nice room they provided me in their large old house in Virginia. (It was funny one night when the bus driver got lost and I was navigating by the moon.)

But I spent some time with Ted, while he worked, read in his office, collected papers, and put them in his briefcase, crossed the streets with him, and though our politic differed enormously I gained real perspective - especially when Mike Gravel was no place to be found, too busy for the youngest member of the Alaskan contingent.

I learned there is something to just being reliable. When I see Ted behind President Bush Sr's inauguration I feel know something about how Ted feels. Most Americans have no idea how a very few Alaska politicians have heavily influenced American politics - way out of proportion to the number of Alaskans there are, but more related to the scale of Alaska's land and resources.

But none the less the time I spend as a child with Gene, Bob, and Wendell taught me something about power, and the silence of it.

Bob was such a refined quiet man, he was a statesman, and did not make a big deal of his own presence. I remember most strongly his heart, it was great - he loved greatly and he loved people. I can say he understood the Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts of Alaska, and had real compassion for them.

We did alot to honor Bob, made some wonderful enormous banners of a traditional Tlingit Haida Thunderbird and two side panels of felt glued on to a backing.

Of course I was a kid so a cut out a few pieces and went to play, but the glue was so strong in the house the adults got what I thought was very funny, and the firemen had to come with a huge vacuum and clear out the room, restoring the fresh air. Even non-political people worked on that project, like Venita Arns, who loved to stitch and sew.

Bob was the forever Senator until his death in 1968 I missed Bob. His wife lived in a fine house north of Fairbanks over looking a wide plain; I felt it when I visited her there with Yonni Fischer. Stevens was appointed to replace Bob, that must be a very interesting footnote to history however that happened.

Gene was sweet and funny, so easy to like, he seemed like a favorite father. I remember his broad smile and slightly cubby cheeks around that smile. He would sit around with us kids and tell us things, light stories of the day, something bright that happened or explain something.

Wendell was like a spy, I felt aware yet comfortable in his presence. The leather seats in his black big time attorney town car felt warm in the winter when he ferried his son and I from one event to another, speaking in grizzly low tones, with a liquid understanding of language that his son Eddie reflected in his visual and sonic poetry he recited to me through walks through our old town Anchorage in the snow and mailed to me from college with a picture wearing his pa's wolf fur parka. Seemed appropriate that Wendell owned a wolf parka, and more that Eddie lifted it.

Ernest was always an old man, balding older man to me and I was not so close to him - he seemed preoccupied with the State's business, a serious person, tall and very white. I believe my grandfather knew him well.

And then there was the forever governor Egan. I though Governor and Egan was his name, like a permanent title. He was very warm and always to remembered to ask me about all the living members of my family although he could recall my grandparents and probably my great grandparents as well. His memory for names and relationships was remarkable and very well known.

The most exceptional political friend I knew and spent more time with as an adult was Yule Kilcher with his stories of world travel, royalty, customs, and encyclopedic knowledge of 47 languages and dialects and his desire to educate me and expose me to other cultures and travel. He wrote me shortly before he died and encouraged me to be happy! I miss him the most perhaps because he was the most challenging person, brilliant among the brilliant; dedicated to human freedom and endeavor.

Now when I read about these men, read their stories, they were written by the parents of my old friends, and frequently they too have passed on. I miss you all.

PS. Yule Kilcher set up this…

http://www.kachemaklandtrust.org/

putting his 613 acre homestead into a trust for future generations.

He was already discussing this in 1969 with his next door neighbor, an attorney, when I traveled with him down to Homer from Anchorage.

Reporting Junk email, Spam, and Visa

I hate spam - but worse I hate spam which promises to be a panacea for HIV.

In Washington State it is recommended you copy all the information including the header stuff included to the state's Attorney General's Office and complain. Because sending unwanted spam is one thing but lying about the effects of the so-called medicinal product is another.

Here is the Attorney General's Spam contact info:
http://www.atg.wa.gov/junkemail/

You can register your email address as one owned by a Washington state resident and thereby under the protection of Washington law. There is some evidence that people listing their email addresses there are subject to more spam then if they did not register.

If you query "Fourteen digit backend test for Visa card ecommerce" you will find a pass number that will allow you to enter a valid useless Visa number so if someone sends you spam email like this, you can spoof an order - that will clog up their system loaded with their fake "cure".

Here is an example email with the header included:

Return-Path:
Received: from d2-41.rb4.clm.centurytel.net (d2-41.rb4.clm.centurytel.net [69.29.89.41])
by ultra5.eskimo.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id j6545dpU028307;
Mon, 4 Jul 2005 21:06:03 -0700
Received: from spoof lifelike (shoestring.muscularkink.com [32.82.246.144]) by 69.29.89.41 (6.7.0/9.3.3) with ESMTP id IM71473777 for <1drlane@eskimo.com>; Tue, 05 Jul 2005 02:01:36 -0300
Message-ID:
Content-Class: urn:content-classes:NEWSLETTER
Reply-To: "HIV"
From: "HIV"
Location: glance panel mercuric
Delivery-Notification: No
To: "1drlane" <1drlane@eskimo.com>
Subject: 'THE ANTIDOTE'
Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 00:59:36 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="--9267317380830159869"
X-UIDL: Tp\"!NOa"!8(@!!\(_"!


Hello,

We have an Alternative to DRUGS & ANTIBIOTICS. A Miracle Protein than can help people with serious diseases

[link removed]

Kills ALL known deadly Viruses & Bacteria in the body that keep diseases, namely: Influenza, SARS, Cancer, HIV etc.

A disease must be made DORMANT to stop infection.
'The ANTIDOTE' is the answer.

WE ARE THE ONLY COMPANY IN THE WORLD WHO HAVE DEVELOPED AND ENHANCED THIS PRODUCT FOR SALE.

For More Information
[link removed]

If you have received this and are not part of the Health Monthly Newsletter
then follow.

[link removed]


Regards
[name removed]

You can spam them with a false Visa card entry using their own information for the name and address or any delightful information you should enjoy providing them with. They will be charged for it. You won't.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Nelson Mandela Makes Africans of Entire Norwegian Town of Tromsø

Tromsø's Midnight Sun Brightened by Mandela in Norway

Traveling from a world away, as Tromsø's sharp white modern Arctic Cathedral glistened in the background, 86-year-old Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela spoke before a concert to raise funds for HIV/ADS

Not widely quoted in the news Nelson Mandela made the entire crowd of more than 15,000 people including members of the Norwegian royal family, Africans when he announced "now you're all Africans."

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/bildeserier/article1058616.ece?start=3

People from Tromsø can now well claim they are African, regardless if they have never been there, and have white skin, it's just a fact, and they are worthy of all due honor and homage for attending this worthy event.

Being so aged, in a light way, it was Nelson Mandela's way of politely saying - you are all Africans - now it's your problem.

Video of this event provided by the Gates family at http://stopglobalpoverty.org/sgp_shell.html.

Mahatma Gandhi would be proud.

Place of birth determines right to life? Can I remove the poverty in myself?

Well it's easier to blame the other poor sod. Someone like Sen. Ted Stevens gives his entire life to helping our nation, much of it a lonely time, spent in his office reading through papers, with tons of legalese. It just isn't rock n roll. He isn't just a politician, he's a statesman.

As for me the basic things that I need to change can be done as I achieve goals for myself and others. Maybe it is boring to clean out bathrooms on the Alaska pipeline, or reviewing and stack ranking possible features in software, maybe it isn't rock and roll but it gets us back to the question "Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing?"

Bob Geldof on grotesque - showing images of starving kids. What does it matter where they are? It matters BECAUSE it is Africa. Geldof is a statesman a tattooed statesman.

"Today, we are here to declare our interdependence," said Smith in the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed. "Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together." Another Statesman... a Musicianstatesman.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8434048/
"Geldof appeared onstage to introduce Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Gates, whom the crowd greeted with a rock star’s roar.

“We can do this, and when we do it will be the best thing that humanity has ever done,” Gates said."

What binds us?

Where are our politicians? "Money" sings Pink Floyd

Am I the only one surprised that Musicians are the ones in this world who are raising awareness that so many starve to death on our planet each day? 30,000 people - mostly kids!! How heavy is that. And our politicians worry about who is getting elected.

Money Money Money says Pink Floyd

But maybe that is the point - how many of us want to hear about something as heavy as world hunger from anyone but an entertainer?

Coldplay in London Having Fun!

ABC is playing sections from each Live8 concert. Interesting that these folks look like their missive has actually gotten to their already sensative artistic nature.

Big stages well mic'd, encouraging presentations. I can hardly wait for TV and the Web to intersect, or is that intersex?

Is it possible to end hunger in countries that have little relationship to the rich environments that coastal areas provide - compare in Mexico, Mexico City to Guadalajara.

One by One - Making poverty history!

With a Website titled 1 derlane I just have to blog about the events to save the starving people of Africa now.

If you visit http://www.one.org you will find substancial information and links to Technorati's site that discuss leading bands in the world holding several concerts worldwide to request that our world's most powerful leaders stop poverty and make hunger history.

What a statement!!! Make hunger history?

If we can imagine it we can do it. The mere fact that someone is thinking it is possible is amazing to me.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Ah Amazon - Online Theatre - Films!!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/film-festival/screening-room.html/002-8488101-3908048
You just got to check this out - Amazon's short films from the Tribeca competition.

OVERUSED CORPORATE TERMINOLOGY as a subject of abuse in Street Therapy,

AND SERIOUSLY
please someone join with me to get The Toyota Motor Company to cease using :Moving Forward: as the lowest form of corporate motto ever abused by modern man.

Seriously can we all just move backwards? Or sideways or best yet into outer space?

Any way a site worth visiting. Yeah! Amazon - go man go! Check out the tab for other films.

Films that are Wonderlane Approved?


Street Therapy
SNAP
Misfortune Cookie
The Smartest Person Who Ever Lived


On the emotionally challenging side:
Every 14 Seconds

Traditional Sort Question and Answers

A traditional computer science question to illustrate how someone approaches a software problem is a quick sort for numbers. Here are some traditional algorythms by computer science profs:

http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~morris/Year2/PLDS210/qsort.html

http://linux.wku.edu/~lamonml/algor/sort/quick.html

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~panos/java/Quicksort/

This one interactively demonstrates how the sort works step by step

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Colour Mod - Find Hex for Color without using Photoshop

http://www.colourmod.com/
A Dashboard Widget
allows you to select any color you want and find its Hex, HSV or RGB values without opening a graphics program.

ColourMod allows for selection and input of colors and values, and updates style sheets.


Colorcombos.com covers more detail on ColourMod's versatility and benefits.

Visit the
Combo Tester page, click on the pencil and paper icon to play with the ColourMod, or on that tab from the colourmod site.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Why Blog? for Business Managers, CEOs and Evangelists

Blogging is an inexpensive marketing tool for business leaders with embryonic marketing budgets. Blogging links your writing and images to different kinds of search engines so people can find you automagically!

Blogging: Attracts the fine minds of your clients to your fine products and services through the many search engines and shifting forms of information retrieval. It is easier and less expensive for them to find you, than it is for you to find them.

It encourages two way communications with your customer base who will spread the word even further through their community webs; this is even more so among researchers, intellectuals, computer geeks, and specific communities, such as Spanish speakers, etc. (via Blogging functions Comments and trackbacks.)

Presence on the web is an ongoing quality, kept fresh by your blog; you and your company become real people to your clients.

One to many – blogging enables you to communicate to many readers at their convenience. This can evolve into a community base of people with similar needs and challenges communicating with one another.

Your expertise and knowledge is made openly available – if you are an industry expert it is apparent.

As you write on subjects you document where you learned about it, from who, and what specifically, extending knowledge and communication, possibly your education growing in the field as a result.


Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Quick Start Blogging for Growing Your Business

There are lots of reasons to blog to promote and grow a small business, but the ‘how’ part is the most important to get started. There are two kinds of blogging: public and anonymous.

First and most importantly there is public blogging linked to your professional website, where you identify who you are, with information on how you can be contacted, and encourage two way communication on the yummy goodness of your product.

Second there is true blogging where you write anonymously about any subject matter you choose, including your business, and if you have time for a creative outlet.


This is the Jekyll and Hyde of blogging. Because you write naturally, you should set up both blogs, because ideas and thoughts will occur to you as you write that may not be in your best business interest to publish on your public business blog, but remember –
here your Good Fairy Marketing Manager reminds you never, ever tell anyone who you really are in your anonymous blog even if you become famed writing it, not your wife, best friend or worse enemy, in person, over the phone, or in email. Keep yourself free.

Hyde (anonymous) blogging makes you a more interesting person to keep a secret, and gives you a sense of personal power as well as being an outlet to muse freely on any subject as true self expression without fear of reprisal, in the market or any other way.

The Free Stuff ---
Business Blog
To start blogging you need your business email address and I recommend starting out in Google’s Blogger
http://www.blogger.com/ because you can link your blog easily to your existing Website, and “best of all it’s free!”.

Secret Blog
Blogging software works very similarly from application to application, and there are clusters of similar bloggers using the same platform, but for the Hyde blog I recommend you choose MSN Spaces
http://spaces.msn.com because it is integrated very well with other Microsoft products and very easy to learn to use, and it is free also.

MSN Spaces is dedicated to a good user experience and freedom of speech (despite Press saying they don't, those working on Spaces take it VERY seriously, they believe in freedom of speech) and Microsoft Terms and Conditions spells out that you own your own content, MSN Spaces just publishes it on the Web for you.

For anonymous blogging over Spaces, first create an email address on Hotmail because you will need to sign in using your Microsoft Passport.

If you link your business blog yourself to your business site, on a UNIX based server system the file name for your blog in a unique directory should be index.html (or your choice of appropriate extension), if a Windows based server system the file name should be default.html. These settings and more are configurable in just about any major league blogging software.

By being connected to two very different blogging markets you are also covering more turf in terms of search indices and engines.

However, if you have a little money and some time, and you want to start with the best publishing platform software which is very configurable, try MOVABLE TYPE or TYPEPAD, http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/, http://www.typepad.com/ Typepad currently has a 30 day free trial offer.

So, that is just to begin. Go out without doing anything else and set up both your blogs right now.

Write your blog in some other software product, such as Microsoft Word, so that you do not accidentally delete it in the online format and you have a backup of your text. As of this writing Spaces can not easily control the appearance of fonts but that is expected to be remedied very soon.

Remember you can edit, change dates, delete, and otherwise change anything you publish.

In the case of your product, as with many services on the Web, it is actually more cost effective for your clients / customers to find you than it is for you to find them, by attracting their fine minds to your fine product.

More soon kiddo!

Monday, June 20, 2005

Bloggers Unite to Make Hunger History

Dave Sifey on Backstage Blogging competition
Go to one.org and watch the video and sign the declaration. Get up to speed on what Live8 is all about.
Go to live8.technorati.com and put one of the badges on your blog. It is pretty easy to do, you just need to add the code on the badge page to your weblog template.

Go and read the posts about Live8 on Joe Trippi's blog and on Powerline - this is a nonpartisan effort.

Pick the show that's nearest to you - and send an email to me, Joe, and to John with the following information:

Your name and age
Your blog name and URL
Which show you want to go to (please only pick one show), and
Your snail mail address (so we know where to send the show packets)

Go and blog about Live 8, and tag your posts with the Live 8 tag (instructions on how to do this are here). You've got to put the badge up on your blog and have posted at least once about Live 8 with the tag to get selected.

Keep an eye on your mailbox. Given the incredible time crunch, we'll let you know what's up no later than Thursday June 30th.

Tell all your friends. The goal here is to get 100,000 blog posts out before the G8 summit, and to get as many people out there blogging about Live 8, third world debt relief, the plight of the hungry and poor everywhere and what we can do about it.


There may be additional credentials that we can get from the Live 8 people, and Joe, John, and I are going to work our butts off to get credentials for the other shows as well, including Toronto and the shows in Great Britain. More to come. In the meantime, please go out and listen, read, and blog - together perhaps we can help to shift the conversation, and influence country policies to help to make poverty history.



Live 8 Blogging

Sunday, June 19, 2005

The Deep Web

So what is the Deep Web? As this recent MacNewsWorld story relates, the Deep Web is something that people pay for - the subscription Web of information behind password and userid locked doors.

Please see:

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/pKwv3XqPkSM6sx/Yahoo-Releases-Beta-Deep-Web-Subscription-Search.xhtml

Saturday, June 18, 2005

New Interface Update for CNN

Today CNN.com updated it's main page interface with an easier to read index page. Why is it easier to read? The are leaving the strong blue headers and replacing them with greenish light grey section headers, adding new organization to each header, such as video.

The CNN UI / UX team added lighter colors, and some vertical text, self referenced with similar colors. The color pallet is much more interesting, and feels more transparent. There is a much stronger focus on video, with easier access throughout the initial page.

Green is one of the most easy colors for the human eye to differenciate, as more of our visual range is assigned to it.

One of the interesting things about how they are doing this update of the interface, is adding new changes gradually, almost so you wouldn't notice. This way readers/customers can become accustomed to the changes slowly, and not feel as if they are lost.

Speaking of lost, I was so excited to see how well MSNBC.com was doing with their UI design. But suddenly they introduced page long Flash ads that one has to close in order to read the page contents. Their team has somehow suddenly forgotten the idea of User Experience!

FI! I can hardly wait until they have driven away enough customers to put the ads back in their place! I was so hopeful!

Monday, June 13, 2005

UI / UX Interview with Microsoft

Today I interviewed for a perm position at Microsoft to help redesign a product's training Web site.

What was cool about it was that in the course of our conversations I was shown the original designs for the Web site, and I quickly analyzed it and got everything right in terms of what they had already done and the improvements they needed to make.

But better than that I knew exactly where I could take them successfully to the next stage in functional design.

I discussed what basic changes to make it user friendly and easier to read and negotiate. I mentioned, because the audience would be predominately male, that the images and shapes should be attractive and relaxing to the eye, and begin with some females, then show people, including people of color working together on systems, laptops and with handheld devices.

Also I showed that the straight lines were too formal and tended to zoom the enduser's eyes right off the screen.

Then the interviewer showed me the next design, executed by two additional designers which surprise! surprise! surprise! - showed curved lines and a pleasant looking woman. It was "sexier" in the sense of appealing, and more relaxed.

Each time the interviewer showed me a new revision, I discussed what needed to happen - and I was correct each time - what an ego booster!I showed him some modern designs of a group of programmers and IT guys working in a friendly environment, but using futurist fonts, with a slightly Star Trek style design, that it was much more appealing to the audience they are designing the site for.

Speaking about flexible design (such as with CSS) and how to communicate process I showed him some designs that include process, and discussed how showing breadcrumbs and numbering processes is OK, it sets the enduser's expectation that it is a process, and how many steps to expect.

He also showed me some very bright red designs that covered the entire screen - I had to agree that it was more than a bit overwhelming. Color as used by a trained artist, who is also a colorist and understands the physiological and physical responses people have to strong color can be a useful tool, or it can fail to achieve useful goals if misused or misunderstood.

I discussed four primary design elements and strong design considerations for Web page design:
1. Who is your audience?
2. Where is the most useful real estate on a page and why is that vital?
3. What is the golden rectangle or golden mean and how is it used to direct the eye in refined designs?
4. How mammals, including human beings react to being presented with any screen or vista.

For me design is often spontaneous, it comes complete, or nearly complete in a flash of insight. Which is not to say that there are not going to be any changes. Often too I draw things on paper and evolve, consult with others, redesign, and rework until it is very close, and then do a final version which is submitted to be tested.

The UI testing, such as performed by information architect testers, often will uncover unexpected or unanticipated design flaws, which can be fixed and retested on an iterative basis.

In the case of working with Developers I found that they are readers pure and simple - if something is a huge red circle reading BUY ME HERE RIGHT NOW, they will skip it, and probably perceive it as an advertisement. But if it is in even a small font and reads, Buy name of product now then they will perceive it and click on that text.

This is exactly what the world's leading experts have been saying all along about design. For those interested in what is new in the field, considered checking out and subscribing to Dr.
Jakob Nielsen's http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ current issues in Web usability.

Microsoft is a great company that has a lot of wonderful technology at it's fingertips - getting things right with the human - computer interface and interaction is a bit more difficult.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Renovation Photo

Here is an image that says it all about renovation:




Friday, February 04, 2005

Intuitive Understanding of Systems and Design - new word "urbanophile"

Well nothing as deadly to a blog as posting a poem, so much for being a rule breaker!

All the real bloggers' rules I am breaking - you know who, where and what I am because I have associated my writing with my business, or at least with my business resume. And because I want you to know. But blogging in a freestyle with energy may be more effective and fun if you don't know the author, and if the author doesn't let on who he or she is.

It's like putting your business sign on your car - it's fine if you are a careful and considerate driver, but if like to drive your sportscar fast and you cut someone off accidently or they take offence, it is your business that is represented on the road.

Reading the real bloggers you don't even know what gender they are (Say hello George Sands). The wild and woolly days of self expression on the information hiway are here, to stay. There are ways to control traffic and monitize these sources of information, but real writing by real people is out and loose in the world.

So why did I do it this way-- because as a creative it must be sort of well, restrictive? Yes, well fundamentally it is, one only has so much time to do things like write. But for the greater good as both a left and right brained person, I want to have the left brained ones be able to find me so they can make clever use of my right brain & left brain bridges to help build a better world.

The techies, the geeks, and nerds thought we had our brave new world in our hands - even some retired before the snakeoil salesmen took over what had been a grand fun time leading up to the high tech craze and crash of 2001. Nothing was as hollow as the white man's getto of Silicon Valley in 2000.

I even laughed off my "psychic friends" who warned me, prior to 1995, that things were going to hit the wall and turn ugly after about 2000 - they warned me that money would be more difficult to come by. Look at all this money I am making I thought! Hey I'll be able to buy a house, continue to travel and meet some of my nerdy interior goals. It doesn't even matter that I left millions of dollars worth of stock on the table at Microsoft in '93 and at RealNetworks in '96.

But my feeling that despite how much torture I had to endure in the linear thinking, instructional based, right brain repressive, non-expressive universe of the technical knowledgeworker, that some day it would be worth the trauma appears to be coming to fruition.

In the old days my heart hurt alot. After working in tech my personality changed significantly - I became kinder, truer, and gentler. I found that there is no where to hide and nothing to defend, because you are always with you. The wildchild was tamer, but rather than sensing immediate changes, continued to use my intuition to sense things as they might become - with some accuracy. I gave the first public speech at Microsoft on the advent of the Internet, asking the user education folks to store their files intended for printing instead of deleting them so we could distribute them in the future.

Being fundamentally (one could say 'terminally') creative is not something you erase by working with technology, but it is important to get along with people in the world. To me not just get along with them, by hopefully to teach by example, and encourage them on their mission in the world. It is not my job to change others, I found, only myself.

The tech industry now needs me to be a nexialist - a jack of all trades - a designer with an INTUITIVE urbanophile understanding of systems, software and design so we can more effectively combine it with meeting human needs.

We are very much in the early days of technology, and even if I and other can see clearly into the future, it is step by step that we meet that future creating it as it arises.

Yes, I still love Paul Simon's melodic ballads and Green Day's rants, En Vogue is major eye candy but who cares? I can't spell worth a darn because I still think words can be spelled all kinds of different ways. Sometimes I have to hear something twice to memorize it. I was made to feel terrible about that in a work review 15-20 years ago - "Some times Linda has to hear information twice". But then I was reading the life story of one of the world's great ancient pandits, and there it was, "Sometimes I have to hear something twice" What a relief! If the smartest man in the world admitted that sometimes he had to hear something twice, what hope is there for the rest of us?

People have their own problems, it does not one twit of good if we take it on ourselves.

NOTE: Torture is a word so uncommon to my use that I looked it up on the front page of CNN - some woman named Linda is happily married to some man named John and they love to torture kids in Florida by pulling out their toenails and beating them with a hammer - and people worry about Jackson - harm comes in all kinds of ways and affects people really differently. I could not spell torture well enough to find it via Dictionary.com - technology is for me not against me - at least I can spell it.

Friday, January 21, 2005

House done back to Work! The Olympus Spa

So we completed the renovation of Jeanette's house, and it is stunning. We invited a realtor to come and view both before and after and all she could do is compliment us over and over again - "it is amazing! amazing!, simply amazing! I would certainly recommend you to my clients," she told me,"The colors! Just everything!"

So I returned to work in the software industry the very next week, which is a challenge and a delight!

The job entails working with "Spaces", Microsoft's new blogging software, a subject after my own heart - communication via the Web!

When possible I will add a link to my new blog.

Oh, and by the way, I moved out of the lovely turn of the century house I was renting, the front retaining wall collapsed! So I am staying with friends, camped out on Julie's floor, as she makes plans to move to Algeria for 6 months.

Jeanette took a well-deserved vacation to Baja with Sara, watching whales from a small skiff.

I've been invited home to Alaska to enjoy the summer with two groups of friends - I was teased by Alaskan tourist photographs someone at work has as their screensaver - the color of the light is so unique I could tell right away where it was.

My idea of a vacation is to travel to the largest metropolis I can, Hong Kong is a kick for instance, and so is New York City. I really felt I was on a spiritual high in San Francisco overlooking the city from Twin Peaks for Christmas of 2001, a refreshing change from the completely lonely white man's getto of Silicon Valley at that time.

It doesn't make sense to me to save travel mad money for some distant time in the future when I may be too old to walk around, just touring in long buses peering out from that cool dark microclimate into the real world as if it were a moving tv set. But then I think of the Indian heat and am just glad we all have choices in our potential adventures.

Everyone is talking in thirsty whispers about the Korean-style women only "Olympus Spa" in Tacoma,
8615 S. Tacoma Way Lakewood, WA 98499
Phone: 253-588-3355, 253-582-6625 Fax: 253-588-3367

http://spas.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Folympusspa.com%2F

No swimsuit kinda serious about health place - 3 different temperature of hot tubs and a cool pool with a waterfall, with a massive exfoliate attack - whirlpools, sauna, steam room. Living like a queen sounds really right to me somehow, body scrubs, wraps, honey and cream moisturizing, massage, reflexology, and paraffin treatments for hands and feet. Honey I can take it really I can! I gotta gotta do it, and bring some friends soon.