Google, this is seriously cool
November 7, 2007
Doing a search tonight for stuff in downtown glassland, so I hit up Google Maps and poked around. I noticed a new button, “Street View,” that I hadn’t seen before (so don’t tell me it’s been there for five years), and clicked it.
Little yellow stick figure, kinda floppy, pops up on the map, which breaks out in all these blue lines.
I drag the little yellow guy to where I’m going on the map, click on him, and up pops a 360-degree view of the building I’m trying to find, at street level. I can rotate the picture, travel up and down the street…wow.
From the map, it looks like they have at least some part of about 15 US cities covered already (they do NOT have a view of my front door, I checked). It’s kinda spooky and kinda cool at the same time, but given my predeliction for getting lost–and my need to landmark–it’s really going to come in handy.
Thanks, Google.
Vindalho
November 5, 2007
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Location: SE near 21st and Hawthorne
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Price to fill up two people: About $60
Think “India meets Wolfgang Puck” and you’re close to Vindalho. It’s across the main drag from Bullseye Glass, sorta squeezes past our affordability rule, a semi-chichi place with very good Indofusion food. That means you’ll find rosewater in your salty lassi (not a great choice) and samosas made with pumpkin.
Food-wise, the carrot soup was delicious, they had a seared ahi tandoori tuna that was magnificent and I very much liked my prawns. The breads (a critical part of any Indian restaurant) are pretty good. The four of us paid about $110 with tip (and we didn’t order booze or dessert) and had enough food left over to feed a couple of doggy bags.
Leopard speak with fork-ed tongue
November 5, 2007
Just got this ad from Apple in my e-mail:
My experiences are just a tad different.
Castuary: Life in the patience zone
November 5, 2007
The kiln hit temp* last night, stayed that way for eight hours and about two minutes ago reached its annealing soak. It’ll soak for another 23 hours and 58 minutes, then start the long, downhill slide to room temperature. By my calculations it’ll hit room temperature Friday morning at 5:15 AM. Another 24 hours of resting, and it’s mine.
But right now, we (the glass and I) are in what I call the patience zone, and it’s the part of Castuary that drives me nuts.
It’s a terrible place, but it’s where you live (well, where I live, anyway) when you’re into glass casting. What’s done is done, what will happen will happen, and there’s not a daggone thing to do but wait. Did I use enough glass? Am I going to get a bad color reaction? A good color reaction? Did I hold the glass long enough to pick up really good detail? Long enough to fine out some bubbles? Did the investment hold or do I have a new glass floor on my kiln?
Opening a kiln is like Christmas and a train wreck all at the same time. Oh, I know the bloody mold and firing schedule are, if anything, over-engineered, I know I calculated volume correctly (29 pounds of glass, give or take a few ounces), I know the chemistries predict a potential reaction between only two of the 11 glasses I used and I *want* that reaction… but I’m still going to be surprised on Saturday morning.
Hopefully in a good way.
In the meantime, I’m lulling the glassjones with some more tack-fuse experiments and also a housewarming/wedding present for cousin and new cousin-in-law who just arrived in glassland. (and had the good taste to admire my work. I swear, I’m too easy. Praise my glass and the next day it’s gift-wrapped on your doorstep. This is why I never have enough stuff for a full show.)
These are mostly variations on a theme, stuff I’m doing just to get them out of my head while the REAL heartwork is pounding on my motor centers and screaming to get out. And all this tack-fusing has given me an idea I’m calling tack-casting right now…but could be very interesting and potentially heartwork if I can develop it.
But with all this, my thoughts keep arrowing down to the kiln…and Saturday morning.
–sigh–
Update: Wanna see what came out of the kiln? Meet The Lady.
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*what most people call process temp, or the hottest point in the firing cycle, the point at which the good stuff happens…or not
Drive-by viewing
November 4, 2007
Headed out to drop off my ballot (yeah, yeah, I’m late) and buy some baby food (don’t ask), stopped at the red light and glanced at the van waiting in front of me. Its rear view mirror was moving.
Huh?
Looked again, and it wasn’t a rear-view mirror, it was a video screen. There was some sort of children’s video playing, showing happy children singing, dancing, and clapping. It’s night, the interior of the black van was dark, so literally all I could see was the video and the taillights.
It was hypnotic. In fact, I stared at it, trying to make out what the kids on the video were doing, after the light turned green. I bucked the temptation to follow closely behind and finish the movie but had a heck of a time–with that LCD shining brighter than everything else–keeping my eyes on the road.
I wonder if the innovative folks who built video pacifiers into the back seats of vans ever realized that they were creating a traffic hazard for other drivers? It was amazing how distracting that LCD screen was in the dark.
What we sell vs. what they buy
November 3, 2007
Doing a little market research for someone right now. Nothing fancy, just an informal Zoomerang survey: 10 questions sent out to about 3,000 customers, offering them a chance at a free lunch if they respond.
Sent the questionnaire to the veep and the head of customer service for approval, and got an immediate grumble: Why were we wasting five of our precious questions on “stuff we already know,” i.e., business size, which of the company’s many products they own, etc…?”
“If that’s what you want, we’ll just ask the database guy make you a report. We capture all that stuff already.”
I reminded them of the difference between reality and perception. Reality–our product info and sales data–vs. customer perception, which is what they really buy when they plunk down a purchase order. The point isn’t duplicating the data in the CRM software, it’s understanding how much of the message actually got through to the customer, and how much of the customer’s message(s) actually get through to us.