The Assmolean Dining Room
Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 8:00 pm
Last week before leaving California for London, I decided that it would be fun to have a cream tea whilst in England. After a quick look around, it seemed like the best option would be to check out the new Ashmolean Dining Room in Oxford. After all, Jancis Robinson's husband is apparently involved, and they have a Web site with posted menus.

Let's have a look! If you load their Web site, you'll see this:



Tea for two for £25? Yes please! And what does this tea consist of? Let's have a look! If you read their menu, you'll see this:



This afternoon, Dan and I arrived promptly at 3 pm to enjoy our delicious afternoon tea. And guess what the menu they handed us looked like? Here it is - take a look!



That's right - there is no afternoon tea at the Ashmolean Dining Room!

Dear Ashmolean Dining Room staff: If you don't actually sell something - e.g. afternoon tea - then please don't put it on your Web site or on the online version of your menu. Some of your overseas visitors may be in England for only a very limited time; when this is the case, they often plan where they're going to be eating in advance so as to optimize their vacation plans. And when you're totally moronic and post menus that don't actually exist to your Web site, it's, well, really fucking lame of you. Thank you.

PS. I wound up having tea at the motorway services just before getting back on the motorway to London. I hate to say it, but it was better than your £25 tea will ever be because it actually existed.

Lunch menu, The Sportsman
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 11:06 am
My parents are making Thanksgiving dinner for us this Thursday; to repay the favor (and quite frankly because I was really, really curious about this place), we drove out to a small pub near Whitstable called The Sportsman. My Dad had to phone them up a few weeks ago to book the tasting menu for the four of us; this is a scan of the menu.

Not on the menu but which we enjoyed regardless: rock oysters with house cured bacon, herring on bread, crusted pork belly with a sort of mint sauce, pear ice lollies in ginger milk, chocolate brownies, a sort of fresh apple ice cream with something like Pop Rocks in it, tangerine ice cream (and oh my God, I cannot describe how good that was), and finally New Zealand sparkling wine (Pelorus, my favorite) and a bottle of Argentine Torrontes. I didn't drink either of them as I was driving, but I'm sure they were just fine.

At this point in the day - it took about four hours to make our way through all of this amazing food - I'm kind of feeling like I'll never eat again, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. If you're ever in London, this place is absolutely worth a road trip. Amazingly enough, it was even ridiculously good value - let's just say that there it doesn't often happen that you splurge on a really good meal and feel that you unquestionably got your money's worth. This is the best meal I've had since Alinea many years ago.

Finally, I have to say that the staff were absolutely amazing - warm, friendly, obviously proud of their food. They really made the experience.

Oh, and Imelda Staunton was sitting next to me. I had no idea she was so short!

Was ist das?
Friday, November 6, 2009, 12:27 pm
It's Friday, and there's some experimentation going on at the office...

LEZ FUEL
Saturday, October 31, 2009, 3:09 pm
Found this cleaning up some old iPhone pictures today - this was from late last summer. You rule, ladies!

This sign is ruining my drive home from work
Monday, October 19, 2009, 6:30 pm


There are two psychic centers, known as chakras, that are mainly responsible for clairvoyant visions. These are located in the center of the forehead and at the top of the head. Visualize doors closing over these centers and the flow of impressions will cease. Imagine them opening and the visions will begin again. Now, imagine them opening and closing on the face of the fucking moron who approved this sign. Peace be upon you.

Randomness
Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 10:15 am
I haven't posted in ages. Here's some random stuff in lieu of an actual post:

I turned 40 last month. To celebrate, I took the week off and went to Mexico City with Temo, Mike, and Dan. We rented a fabulous penthouse apartment and spent the week walking around, eating really well, climbing pyramids, and doing lots of cool tourist stuff like eating ice cream in Coyoacan, getting lost on the UNAM bus system, and finally seeing some Frida Kahlo paintings that were undeniably awesome. Say what you will, the woman could paint.

Awesome high points of the week: we ate at Pujol to celebrate my birthday and (amazingly) got to see Erik Truffaz + Murcof perform live at the Lunario. I never thought I'd get the chance to see Murcof live, but there you go. Bonus: nonstop beer service during the show. God damn I love Mexico.

Anyhow, go check out the pictures here and here.

Dan and I also went to New Orleans over Labor Day weekend. We mostly just walked around in the rain in an aimless vibe-digging kind of way. The WWII museum was pretty awesome; better yet, we found some new deli-esque kind of place nearby called Pig or something, where we had foie gras and funky Argentine viognier, or something. Totally my kind of long weekend. Also, I have to admit that the Big Gulp-esque frozen White Russians were pretty damn tasty.

There was also a lengthy business trip to Montréal, where I was fortunate to see Kent Monkman's Dance of Two Spirits at the Museum of Fine Arts, which was fucking awesome. Miss Chief Eagle Testickle has got it goin' on.

I've also been drinking really well lately: highlights included a Beaujolais from Côte de Brouilly that was all earthy spice and dark strawberries, a Jasnières that was mind-blowingly good (only $15 at the San Diego Wine Company), and a bunch of other cool stuff (even the Wayne Gretzsky meritage was pretty good). Full Pour's going gangbusters, lots of good traffic over there, definitely check it out if you haven't already.

I'm tentatively thinking about having some folks over for something called Have a Cigare, which would be a vertical tasting of Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volante from the past decade or so, but I'm not sure if there'd be any interest from San Diego folks.

Finally, that reminds me: Bonny Doon winemaker and President-for-Life Randall Grahm's Been Doon So Long is the best damn book I've read all year. It's basically what the new Pynchon novel would have been if it didn't suck (sorry, but Inherent Vice is one E-Z readin' letdown so far). If you enjoy Pynchon, Joyce, or drinking (preferably all three), then you owe it to yourself to buy a copy. Honest.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 5:47 pm
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Tout va bien
Friday, September 18, 2009, 7:45 pm
After an amazing lunch of raviolis (think won tons) with Oaxacan black molé at Azul y Oro restaurant way down south on the UNAM campus, we headed back into town on the metro today... and then stopped one station later, at Copilco, where nothing happened for fifteen minutes. We gave up, left, fought a hundred chilangos for a taxi, and caught one back home to the Centro Historico. Along the way, we listened to Mexican talk radio, where there was a lot of talk about two deaths, a total shutdown of the subway system, and a lot of other things I couldn't understand.

Long story short, we're home safe and sound - and we're off to a concert at the Lunario in a few minutes.

Oops? v2.0
Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 1:30 pm
You know you're not going to solve your problem quickly when you Google the error message you got while you were trying to install iTunes 9.0 and found your LiveJournal post from 09/09/2008 that details the exact same error.

I'm still trying to fix it but haven't figured out how. Meanwhile, the Windows Installer Clean Up Setup app seems to have hung. Grrrr.

Idle thoughts v2.0
Friday, September 4, 2009, 7:30 am
No time to properly flesh this out - we're off to the airport in just a bit - but after talking with Dan last night, here's another thing to consider. I believe it was Bertrand Russell who, when asked if he could ask one question of God, remarked that it would be simple: Why don't you offer us more proof of your existence? (I'm paraphrasing, of course.)

Because there is no proof of God, it stands to reason that many believers would in fact like there to be some proof that God does exist, that He is actively taking an interest in their lives. Surely the murder of innocents - aka abortion - is so evil that He must want to stop it. Therefore, if we could only stop abortion, that would prove that there is a God because He was at the very least able to stop one outrageously evil thing from happening in this fallen world.

But of course there is no God. Still, if our government only resembled the imaginary theocracy we all inherently desire, then at least we would have proof of God in the form of a Godly government, a government that outlaws everything contrary to His law. In a theocracy, you can be certain that God exists because He has been instantiated in the form of anti-abortion laws, the mutaween, or whatever particular variant you are currently enjoying. You'll sleep better at night knowing that God exists because He is actively preventing you from doing things you know you shouldn't be doing (coveting your neighbor's wife or what have you) and preventing your neighbors from doing things you know they shouldn't be doing (like teh buttseks).

Lagging!
Thursday, September 3, 2009, 6:45 pm
At this rate, I'm way behind schedule!



Bonus countries I've visited but which don't exist today: the USSR, the CSSR, and the GDR. Bonus place I've visited which thinks it's a country: the Hutt River Province.

Also: what's up with not listing Mexico's states individually? C'mon, you guys can do better than that!

Idle thoughts
Thursday, September 3, 2009, 4:30 pm
First off, I don't think I've ever mentioned it explicitly, but it helps to know that I work in the health care industry.

Today I helped out a colleague with a question that originated at one of our customers. Long story short, I had to look up the hospital's Web site to verify their address (which I use to keep track of what software I installed, etc.). Here's the image prominently displayed on their Web site:



I have to admit that I was stunned: I wasn't expecting a hospital to direct you to the National Right to Life Foundation so that you can more easily contact your congressperson to demand an end to health care reform.

One thing to keep in mind during all of this debate and anger is that quite a bit of the anger may have to do with abortion. I hadn't realized this until I saw their Web site, but it's true. This is a Catholic hospital run by a religious order, and it's clear that they are absolutely scared out of their wits that any expansion in the availability of health care at all may result in more abortions being performed.

Thinking about it a bit more, I wondered why Americans seem to be so obsessed with abortion. I've lived in other, much more Catholic places in my life: Swabia comes to mind, where "may God greet you" is a not uncommon greeting and there are more crucifixes on the walls than I care to remember. And how many times did I hear abortion discussed during the year I lived there? Not once. Never.

I think I've decided that Americans worry about abortion because so many of us are deeply unhappy. When you grow up in a society that doesn't give two shits about you, not bothering to educate you, feed you, or pay any attention to your basic medical needs, when you've spent your entire life just barely getting by, doing your best to deal with usurious interest rates, avoid heavy rates of incarcerations, onerous restrictions on your personal freedoms (such as prohibition of soft drugs), you name it, then you absolutely need to imagine a world in which you are cared for, where you're wanted, where you're loved.

Religion is a start, yes, but it's hard to instantiate it, to make it real, tangible. The reason Americans care so deeply about abortion is because the fetus is a displacement for ourselves. In a world that seems to threaten to abort us at any time, we can only conquer that when we prevent an actual abortion. When a woman decides to terminate a pregnancy, we re-map her decision onto the decisions made by our society as a whole: instead of seeing an intensely personal, difficult, painful decision made out of a fierce desire to do what is right for the child - that is, not bring it into a world in which it cannot be provided for, nurtured, or loved - we imagine that if only the child were to be born, it would be born into a loving, providing, nurturing environment which we ourselves never experienced.

In short, because we do not view ourselves as living in a world worth living in, we must imagine that the only world worth living in is the one into which children will be born. That world does not exist, but it is not because of abortion; preventing abortions will not bring that world to pass.

We are in this undesirable world entirely because of the collective decisions we have made. Until we decide to take care of our sick, to educate our children, to reward labor fairly, we will not be able to enter that other world. Preventing all abortion is a wish fulfillment fantasy that distracts us from the real problems we all face.

Want.
Thursday, August 27, 2009, 12:45 pm
With any luck, I'll be getting these ten bottles of wine for my birthday this year...

Places I Have Lived, 1969-2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009, 1:30 pm
Dang it, I can't get this to embed correctly. However, this link should show you a Google Map of (more or less) everywhere I've ever lived.

NB: Windsor Toyota near Sydney, Australia is where we bought the Toyota Landcruiser we lived out of for most of 2002. We didn't actually live in the dealership. :)

Random Microsoft uselessness
Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 3:45 pm
I went poking around Microsoft.com today to try to figure out if I could run Virtual PC on my 64-bit Windows 7 desktop and run 64-bit Windows XP in a virtual machine. Of course, their comparison chart was totally useless: it's nice to know that there is now a new product called Windows Virtual PC, but what's the point of it if the Web site doesn't say what you can run using it? VMware's site isn't much better, but at least you can quickly suss out what will work and what won't.

Meanwhile, Dan reminded me that http://maps.msn.com is still up and running - it's a heinous zombie Web site that seemingly hasn't been updated in forever. Look! You can buy Microsoft MapPoint 2004! That sounds so modern!

I did allow myself to break down and indulge in some very childish behavior, though - I blame Steven Spielberg, though:



Torrey Pines? Well, that's near Black's Beach, so I guess they have a point.

This is weird
Monday, August 17, 2009, 3:30 pm
I didn't know Mexico City had its own Pride flag?



Only 4 more weeks 'til I head down there... exciting!

Oh God
Friday, August 14, 2009, 9:45 pm
Hillel Cooperman: Would you please just stop it already? Thank you.

Work post (boring)
Friday, August 14, 2009, 3:45 pm
Although I'm primarily a highfalutin' support agent, I do a lot of other things at work that range from tech writing to loc testing. At a company conference last week, I mentioned in passing that I felt that a brochure we were sending to our customers contained a couple of mistakes; both of them involved the word affect.

Today, the author of the brochure responded to my comments with a really nicely written E-mail with her side of the story. Check it out (only if you're really, really bored):

( Cut for dullness )

Au recherche du pain perdu
Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 2:32 pm
Last weekend, I took the plunge and upgraded my primary computer to Windows 7. So far, it's been OK-ish - not great, not terrible - and I haven't been too disappointed. This prompted me to finally get around to organizing what E-mail I have left; some of it has been lost to mistakes on my part, some of it was never archived in the first place, and most of it is lying around in a dozen Outlook files that are irritating to access.

Thankfully, Google Apps, which I've used happily for a couple of years now, allows you to upload E-mail from Outlook directly to their mail application. As a result, I now have access to all of my mail online, which is kind of neat. However, some of that mail is necessarily not the most comfortable. Some of it is from dead people (Mark Bingham joking about Trader Joe's pot stickers he left behind in the house in Oakland where we used to live, Steve Kastner saying hi after hanging out at Lazy Bear, than kind of thing), but some of it is troubling for other reasons.

Dan and I were fortunate enough to take a sabbatical back in 2002. It had become clear that the dot com boom was going bust; we'd both saved up some cash, figured that it was a good time to go on a nine month road trip in Australia, and did just that. Back in 2002, the US dollar was strong: the Australian dollar was just 52¢. Diesel was cheap too: it was about US $1.80 a gallon in suburban Australia, going up to about $3.00 a gallon in the very remote outback. Needless to say, we drove quite a bit - I don't have the numbers handy, but it was probably on the order of 20,000km or more. We had a huge diesel Land Cruiser; it took about 12l of diesel per 100km, so we probably burned through 700 gallons of diesel - that was about $1,500 or so.

Looking back through some of that 2002 e-mail today, and I'm noticing some of the prices we paid for lodging while we were there:

Adelaide: Franklin Central Apartments, 2 bedroom apartment: $54
Alice Springs: Rydges Resort: $61
Brisbane: Hotel George Williams: $47
Darwin: Carlton Hotel: $66
Melbourne: The Duxton, $54 (our car got broken into there, though, so it wasn't really that good a deal)
Perth: The Chifley, $47
Stawell, Victoria: Best Western Magdala Motor Lodge: $47
Sydney: Medina Grand Sydney: $105

And what would these rooms cost if I were to book them today? First off, the dollar is weak: it now costs 84¢, not 52¢, so prices are automatically 62% higher than they were in 2002. Here's what those rooms look like now:

Adelaide: Franklin Central Apartments, 1 bedroom apartment: $134
Alice Springs: Rydges Resort Crowne Plaza: $134
Brisbane: Hotel George Williams: $75
Darwin: Carlton Hotel Holiday Inn The Esplanade: $150
Melbourne: The Duxton Rendezvous Hotel, $128
Perth: The Chifley Somerset St Georges Terrace: $139
Stawell, Victoria: Best Western Magdala Motor Lodge: $88
Sydney: Medina Grand Sydney: $155

(Methodology: All room pricing courtesy of wotif.com where possible, just as we booked them back in 2002.)

Fuel prices have risen too: diesel is now about US $4.00 a gallon in Sydney and presumably somewhere up around $7 a gallon in the remote outback; the fuel that cost us $1,500 in 2002 would now probably cost us nearly $3,500 today.

So what am I getting at here? The first decade of the 21st century has been really frustrating. Starting in 2000 and 2001, I got the distinct feeling that costs were going up and job opportunities were going down. We did well to seize the chance we had in 2002 to go to Australia for nine months; the US dollar is now so weak (and oil so expensive) that we couldn't afford to do a trip like that in 2010 if we wanted to - those $60 hotel rooms are now $150, fuel prices are more than double, etc.

Right now, I'm delighted that I have a great job with a company I really like; I'm challenged every day and paid well for my efforts. But this sense that things have been sliding downhill has been with me for almost a decade, and it's starting to really wear on me. As good friends continue to lose their jobs and it becomes apparently increasingly clear that we just won't be able to take any more crazy Australia-style sabbaticals, won't be able to ever buy a fabulous house with a pool, you name it - costs keep going up but income never does at the same time - my happy go lucky expectation reduction seems finally to be hitting that wall where I find myself thinking OK: how much more ridiculous is this going to get?

Meanwhile, I'll keep saving up funds for an eventual second sabbatical... but it isn't going to happen unless prices go back to where they were in 2002 (at least in US terms). I'm not real hopeful about that, though - even the Australian dollar prices have gone up somewhat (especially outside of Sydney). Oh well!

In other Max Tundra news
Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 12:00 pm
1. Finally, the Max Tundra Peel Session are available for free download!

Max Tundra Peel Session

I still haven't heard these songs - I'm at work and don't have the ability to do so right now, but you can bet they'll be the first thing I listen to when I get home.

Some background: these were recorded shortly before John Peel's death and not broadcast until shortly thereafter. Four tracks taken from his first two albums, all of them re-recorded with a live. If you've never, ever heard a Max Tundra song before, please take the time to listen to Cakes at the very least - it's a phenomenally good song and the one that made me love his work.

2. If you're interested in his remixes, there's now a MySpace page of some of them available. No, the sound quality isn't wonderful and no, you can't download MP3s, but you can at least get a sense of what some of them sound like. Bonus: the posted version of his Pet Shop Boys remix isn't the one that was actually released; instead, it's his first, rejected version.

3. If you live in San Francisco, LA, Chicago, or New York, you'll have a chance to see Max Tundra live this August!

Aug 18 2009: Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco
Aug 19 2009: Spaceland, Los Angeles
Aug 20 2009: Empty Bottle, Chicago
Aug 23 2009: Jelly NYC, Brooklyn

You can bet I'll be at the LA show - his performance in Phoenix earlier this summer was sublime, ineffable, wonderful, blah blah blah. You've heard me go on before. Now it's your turn to go. Tickets are about ten bucks. See you there!