Miscellaneous
Early evening, Sunday, March 25, 2007 • 3 responses
I went to a bookstore today to find a book on Istanbul. I perused the shelves and found nothing on that city nor on its country, so I went up to a very eager-to-help cashier.
Me: “Could you tell me if you have any books on Istanbul?”
Cashier, enthusiastic: “Sure, what’s that you want again?”
Me: “Any books on Istanbul.”
Cashier: “hmmm…”
Me: “You know, Istanbul not Constantinople…”
Cashier: “Oh yeah!”
Me, rythmically: “You know it’s Istanbul not Constantinople…”
Cashier, dubious: “Yeah. umm.”
Me, dubious: “…”
Cashier: “Fiction?”
Me: “No, anything in Travel?”
Cashier: “I’m sorry, is Istan or Bull the last name?”
Me: “…”
Cashier: “…”
Me: ”Istanbul. …
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Mid-afternoon, Friday, March 17, 2006 • Responses off
The results are in! The ExpressionEngine $15,000 shootout yielded some stiff competition, particularly in the Personal site category. It’s really interesing to see how the shootout judges rated the various contestants; I think the contest benefitted greatly from having such diverse opinions on the judging panel. Here are my picks; I encourage you to read others’ comments as well. …
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Ridiculously early, Saturday, February 04, 2006 • 3 responses
pMachine is giving away a total of $15,000 in cash and prizes in their aptly-named $15,000 Web Design Shootout, and as if that wasn’t enough to prove they’re insane, they’ve invited me to be one of the judges.
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Just before midnight, Sunday, June 26, 2005 • 7 responses
I’ve been keeping coin change in a small plastic box underneath my bed. At some point during my first year in California, I realized the ridiculousness in the fact that I moved about 75 lbs of coin change from one side of the country to the other—Maine to California. I remember the shock of finding out that banks require you to wrap up your pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters into little paper rolls before depositing them. I have childhood memories of arge coin counting machines at banks, clink-clinking away in the background when my mom would take me to the bank before running errands. …
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The wee hours, Monday, February 02, 2004 • 2 responses
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Just before midnight, Sunday, January 18, 2004 • 4 responses
This post comes to you from the balmy climes of northwestern Illinois. I’m at the farm, where just past noon today, it reached a scorching high of 8.5°F (-13°C).
Perhaps it’s brain freeze, but it occurs to me that tomorrow, on the other side of the Mississippi River, at least some Iowans will be spending their Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. …
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Evening, Tuesday, March 26, 2002 • 2 responses
One of my best friends was in town last week attending the Game Developers Conference in San Jose. It’s been my experience that conferences (of the computer variety) are less about people and more about accumulating things.
There are, of course, the obvious chotchkas: pens, buttons, odd machine-made foldable paper sculptures…basically anything large enough to print a logo on but small enough to let you know that the company was too cheap to want to give away the good shit. Pens I understand. …
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