New York again

Next week I'll be back in New York. Maybe I should go see a show or something. Any suggestions?

Update: Here's my new map of business trips:

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New car smell

With Lisa's assistance I have just purchased a new '08 Prius. What color is it? We didn't even ask the dealer.

Since it looks just like every other Prius Lisa and I were discussing ways we could decorate it to distinguish it from other Prius. This would be useful if I park in the Berkeley Bowl parking lot for example. I think an antenna ornament would be best. However, as we were discussing that the conversation turned to decorations that would fail to distinguish it from other Pria*. A Kucinich bumper sticker?

I thought I should get a bumper sticker to let the world know my political affiliations. However, since my personal political pet peeve (disagreeing with libertarianism) is kind of specific I think I might have to make a custom one. My current idea: "Libertarianism is not a compelling value system".

*This is a word of my own design meaning the plural of Prius.

Success!

After setting up my family computer in San Diego expressly for simplicity and ease of use, and after several lessons, my mom is now online. Earlier today she sent me her first unassisted e-mail. Granted, the entire message was in the subject line, but I consider it a strong first step on the information superhighway. Congrats to my mom, and also, to the fine men and women of Google who had the forethought to translate all their pages into Italian.

The new car smell

Lisa told me that the car was dieing the other day, but I was skeptical. "Oh sure, it's probably not handling like it used to, but it's probably just a problem with the power steering fluid." I thought to myself. Well, I drove it around a bit and yes, my car is indeed totally fubar. It seems to have trouble shifting gears which is kind important. Incredibly my $400 car is giving up the ghoast just 18 short years after rolling off the assembly line.

So that puts me in the market for a new car.

Following the advice super-handy brother in law I'm going to get a subscription to Consumer Reports so I might get the inside scoop. I'm going to take a close look at those new-fangled hybrids since I don't expect gas to get any cheaper.

Also, I've reached 23% on project Euler, making me quite possibly the geekiest person you know... unless you're Dan Silverstein in which case, yeah you probably do know a lot of people geekier than me. Good for you!

Totally Wet in San Francisco

I thought I'd increase traffic to my blog by employing a purposefully titillating title. However, the subject of this post really is about being wet in the Bay Area. It has been raining quite a bit as of late. It'd really incredible and it's not like the Bay Area is a stranger to rain anyways.

On Friday I walked to work and was so thoroughly soaked that even 30 seconds in the microwave failed to dry my socks noticeably. Don't worry, I used a plate. My co-workers didn't seem to mind. Maybe they were in a good mood becuase it was free bagel Friday.


(Above: My socks and my bagel)

It rained all day yesterday but some friends came over and we played Princess Bride karaoke by turning the sound off and taking turns acting out the lines. Our memories were greatly helped by the subtitle option. I played Vicini of course. "Those are the cliff's of insanity!"

Also, Lisa and I made another Action Adventure Animal Team Squad comic. View it here.

My friend David has gotten me into Project Euler. It's a site where you can test your skill as a programmer by trying to solve various puzzles. So far I've answered 23 problems and have achieved a 13% rating. Hooray! Plus I've learned a lot about prime numbers.