:: Al Abut ::

Now Even Our Wedding Has A Website!

2008-05-11T23:28:00.001-07:00

I'm proud to announce our wedding date, location and website:

http://alandyesi.com

I'm looking forward to the big day and kicking off yet another new life chapter with my best friend. It's going to be great!

Sorry for the mystery and lack of details - we've got our head's down planning this thing while simultaneously going through physical therapy (we both had knee surgery in the last two months, both on the same knee!) and of course working like crazy, as always. Life is busy but good and we'll have more info soon!

Yesi0056 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:33:53-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0051 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:33:13-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0050 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:32:44-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0040 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:32:14-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0039 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:31:16-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0033 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:30:28-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0028 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:29:34-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0018 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:28:38-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0014 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:27:43-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0013 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:26:52-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0011 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:26:00-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0010 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:25:10-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0009 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:24:22-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0008 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:23:39-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0007 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:23:00-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0003 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:21:47-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Yesi0001 [Flickr]

2008-08-04T07:21:23-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Links for 2008-07-30 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-31T00:00:00-05:00

Business POV | Conversations With Thought Leaders: Design Icon Carlos Segura | Jun 14 2008
"Segura's Chicago firm has been at the forefront of design for years, working with clients such as MTV, Corbis, Hewitt, White Castle and Diamond Technologies. Here he lays out some theories of effective design and details his provocative approach to worki

Links for 2008-07-25 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-26T00:00:00-05:00

adaptive path » blog » Chiara Fox » Designing Search Checklist
Chiara Fox kicks off a design pattern discussion around search and common elements across result pages. I chipped in with my $0.02 with lessons learned from the last year.

Links for 2008-07-15 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-16T00:00:00-05:00

The early days: How 37signals built buzz out of the gate - (37signals)
Jason posts a flashback to the old days of 37signals and it brought back some memories I just had to share.
Moleskine® * the city notebooks
These are great! They're a cross between a journal and a traditional guidebook, kind of like a guidebook you fill out. I just got two in the mail (Amsterdam + Istanbul) for our honeymoon.
Cafe Dues? - Delta Tango Bravo
Daniel Burka writes about how he feels guilty throwing down a couple of bucks for a coffee and then mooching wifi, power, and a comfy chair for a few hours. I do too - tipping heavily helps a bit.

Links for 2008-06-30 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-01T00:00:00-05:00

WebKit now supports CSS Variables from David Hyatt on 2008-06-23 (www-style@w3.org from June 2008)
WebKit (the core rendering engine of Safari, available for download with nightly builds) now has an experimental implementation of CSS variables, along with sample pages and test cases.

Links for 2008-06-28 [del.icio.us]

2008-06-29T00:00:00-05:00

Mule Design Studio's Blog: RIP George Carlin
One of many outpourings of love and remembrance this week in the web design community.

Links for 2008-06-24 [del.icio.us]

2008-06-25T00:00:00-05:00

woork: Clean and pure CSS FORM design
Nice little writeup on good form design - I threw in a suggestion to get rid of the <span> tag in the example markup.

Links for 2008-06-11 [del.icio.us]

2008-06-12T00:00:00-05:00

David Steele Overholt | Plans are coming together
My buddy David is gearing up to teach what's shaping up to be an extremely interesting college course this summer.

alandyesi.com - #2 [Flickr]

2008-06-10T04:51:22-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

.

A subtle update from the first quick version I put up a month ago.

completely untargeted ad [Flickr]

2008-06-10T04:46:00-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

Somehow I don't think I'm their target market, what with being half a world away.

alandyesi.com [Flickr]

2008-05-11T04:38:03-05:00

Al Abut posted a photo:

I'm proud to announce our wedding date, location and website:

alandyesi.com

Um, Hi

2007-10-18T22:53:00.001-07:00

Hello blogging, my old friend… wait, we're still friends, right? Hello? No, wait, don't call the cops, I'll change, I'm different, I promise!

Time to blow the dust off this site again, it's been ages. I wonder what you're all up to? Me, I've been working like a crazy person and trying to keep my head on straight. I'm even trying out a new personal assistant named Sandy (a review) to manage everything and she seems to be really helpful so far. Yesi is working too, at the CPMC hospital in Pacific Heights and under a pretty steep learning curve as well. I've transitioned all of my keeping-in-touch-with-friends duties to Facebook (my profile) and even got my mom to join up. And yes, I've kept the weight off that I lost late last year.

And as for where my head is at this exact specific moment, I filled out one of those email questionnaires that I typically ignore. I have no idea why I was in the mood for answering all these questions but I was and it was fun!

A random girl approaches you asking for your name, you say . . .
This actually happened to me two nights ago. She was a prostitute in the mission district having a huge loud argument with someone that was probably her pimp and soliciting clients at the same time, random dudes walking by. I was pulled over on the sidewalk putting something in my backpack and she came up to me and tried to chat me up. I didn't answer, just smiled and ignored her like I do any sales pitch, just like the hand cream lotion and cell phone cart people at the mall, then she went away.
What's the last thing you put in your mouth?
Cold leftover camomile tea.
What does your last text message say?
It's from facebook: "San Diego Pix (San Diego, CA) has requested to add you as a friend. Reply 'a' to add or 'info' to get profile."
The last song you listened to?
Black Cow by Steely Dan, on my musician friend Ed's profile page.
Who do you trust with your life?
My girl, but only in a decision-making capacity, I don't want her operating on me or anything.
What do you say if someone tells you you're gorgeous?
Get out of here.
What do you hate about your school?
Sheesh, I don't have time to rip open old wounds and get into all the different things I hated about UCSD - it was basically a really hard version of a vocational school and not a real "college" - but talking to Lori reminded me of something I loved - the BEAUTIFUL athletic fields and active intramural community. UCSD has genuinely student-centric sports facilities, rather than the spectator-centric stadiums suitable for a pro sports team that you find at larger Division I schools. The north fields in particular have grass like a smooth carpet and the RIMAC gym and arena complex is frigging awesome.
How often do you curse?
Every fucking day. I'm one of the rare people that actually likes having a potty mouth. It's more real, not like the tie-wearing whitewashed shit that passes for human interaction at a typical workplace.
Do you trust all of your friends?
Um, trust them with what? Secrets? I don't really have any and don't miss the drama from the times in my life when I did.
Have you ever talked on the phone while in the shower?
Yes. Years ago. I think I was desperately waiting for a date to call or something and knew she'd call right at the worst moment, but I prepared for Murphy's Law and conquered it!
When was the last time you were in love?
This morning, I was watching a tv show about cars and there was this gorgeous... oh wait, just kidding, tonight when my girl made fish tacos for dinner.
Are you afraid of falling in love?
Nope, do it all the time. I've always done it way too damn much and too often, ever since high school, but now I found a safe outlet and she takes it like a champ :)
Would you stop talking to your friends because of a new friend?
I did that all this year, it's a new friend called Working Like A Goddamn Demon and she's a jealous bitch.
Fill in the blank. I love __
my new haircut. I've had long hair for years now and been tying it back into a ponytail for ages - I finally ponied up for a decent trim that cost more than $5 and it's medium length and out of my face now!
What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future?
clean my closet.
How many kids do you want to have?
I like the make and buy combo - make at least one and adopt another. If I'm going to have kids, I definitely want them to have siblings. It's actually kind of a big deal for me to even think about having kids - it's not like it was a given for me or something I particularly aspired to do.
Would you make a good parent?
Yeah, I think so, because I'm just starting to realize how nerdy I am and that I still get interested in stuff like the subjects my fiancee's nieces study at school, so the hypothetical Kids Of Al would have a study partner.
When was the last time you received flowers?
Oh holy crap, I don't know. Maybe in college after a play? I just gave some yesterday though!
What is your worst habit?
Hmmm, worst as in most frequent? Or one that I hate the most? Most frequent: getting to work late. Not that they care but I'd really rather be there early and leave at a decent hour. The one I hate the most is that I've got a pretty nasty temper whenever I actually let it get out of control, but thankfully that's pretty infrequent.
Honestly, what's on your mind right now?
Gotta go to bed! Getting up early to drop her off at work.
If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?
Honestly, I don't know where it came from but all this year, I've been thinking about something from ages ago. Back in high school, I withdrew my application to Brown (even though I made it to and went through the interview stage!) because I didn't think my parents could afford it and I also didn't appreciate how good a school it was. I didn't even know it was ivy league! For some reason, I've wondered lately if I wouldn't have taken college for granted like I did at UCSD and had a totally different experience if I went to somewhere way far away rather than in my hometown, taken the experience more seriously as a life transition. I feel like I've only just started to grow in that way since moving out of SD 2 years ago. So I'd go back in time and tell high school Al to get into Brown and then worry about the consequences and how you'd afford it. Stop being so overly concerned about what will happen before you try anything in life and just do it!
Shoe size?
9 1/2
What are you wearing right now?
Flannel pajama bottoms (I've only just appreciated how awesome pajamas are this year) and a tshirt.
Righty or Lefty?
righty.
Can you make a dollar in change right now?
I think so, there's laundry money in a jar over the fireplace.
Best place to eat?
Osha Thai has the best green curry and maybe I'll have it for lunch tomorrow! MMMM. Oh wait, snap, I forgot, on weekends that my fiancee works, I like to treat myself to an Indian buffet because she can't eat that stuff.
Who did you steal this from?
The famous Courtney Mclean! Or is McLean? I always forget. I think it's the first, the second looks kinda Mcdonalds-ish. The brash lion!
What is your ringtone?
An old phone ringer.
Favorite juice?
Don't really drink the stuff. But I used to inhale gallons at a time of orange juice back when I did.
Have you had the chicken pox?
When I was in preschool? Kindergarten? Something like that. I ripped off one of them and ate it :) I still have a tiny scar from that to this day, next to my nose.
Have you had a sore throat?
yeah, totally, all the time, stupid allergies.
Ever had plastic surgery?
no, although I used to really hate my nose all through my twenties.
Who knows you the best?
Yesi, my lovely fiancee.
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses?
Neither - better than 20/20 vision in fact. I always wow people that give me the eye chart test and read the bottom row super fast just to show off.
Been to Mexico?
Yep - it's called growing up in San Diego.
Did you buy something yesterday?
Other than food, let's see... a bunch of personal hygiene stuff to leave at work.
Did you get sick today?
No, but I did yesterday and am still sick today. I think it's a stomach flu or food poisoning, totally sucky and bad timing - everyone from work is cranking through the weekend for a new thing we're launching Monday.
Do you miss anyone today?
Yeah, my mom, just thought of her because I was wondering if she was lonely, my dad went abroad again.
Did you get in a fight with someone today?
No, I try not to do that on Saturdays.
Last persons bed you laid in?
My own.
What did you do last night?
Tried to watch some tv shows I downloaded but fell asleep early instead.
Are you comfortable around the opposite sex?
Yeah, pretty much. I used to have nothing but girl friends in high school and college, had to make a real effort to make guy friends. I'm happy to say that I have a pretty good mix of both genders now.
Who do you think will repost this?
Oh good question! No idea among my bloggy friends but probably my friend Kirsten amongst my myspace buddies.
Are you happy right now?
Yeah, sure, why not. A little overworked but I'm starting to fall into a good groove about finding my place in this gold rush.
Are you hungry?
Yeah and it sucks because I'm about to go to bed! I'll have a big breakfast instead.
Are you a forgiving person?
Honestly no, I hold a lot of grudges. I've always been really bad at that and am trying to be better about it.
Are you talking to someone while doing this?
Not for the second half.
What are you about to do right now???
Brush my teeth, go to bed!

Behind The Music

2007-06-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

I noticed a new profile picture on my friend Diana's myspace page this morning and thought it might have an interesting backstory. Little did I know.

me: have fun in providence, you jet setter!

me: and btw, where did you take the pic for your myspace headshot? looks cool.

diana: the one where I'm sitting at my desk? it's at work, taken by the creepy guy who always takes photos of me.

me: oh, haha, I expected a mini-story of a beautiful moment.

diana: it was pretty beautiful, I was working on a porn ad.

The Strokes - You Only Live Once

2007-05-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

I love the latest music video for The Strokes - it's inspired by 2001, one of my all-time favorite movies and quite possibly a flick beloved by every visual designer.

And on a personal note, The Strokes really take me back to a specific happy time in my early to mid-twenties, when I had just started working full-time at UCSD. I was making a living doing what I loved, something I had previously only done as a hobby or part-time student gig; good rock music was finally back on the airwaves after a long dark period of stagnation; I had my own office to rock out in while learning fun web stuff; and since my office was separated from the rest of the admin staff and in a biology research building, I ended up making friends with a bunch of the graduate students that worked nearby. We played sports together, like soccer and floor hockey, and incredibly, we also all shared many of the same musical tastes, so we went to see The Strokes down at Soma (San Diego's legendary punk and hardcore concert venue) and The White Stripes (my favorite band) at UCSD's RIMAC arena (best concert ever). Really good times.

related topics on the web: music, video, ucsd, sandiego, friends

Redesign In The Works

2007-05-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Okay kids, time to bring the design eye for programmer guy - I'm redesigning my website and would love some feedback:

I've been noodling on this for about a week. Those of you that I've already bugged about it have seen previous versions and hopefully will find the latest to be tighter (no one's seen them before this morning).

Line up the bats and have it, please, I definitely appreciate design crits. This is the most public I've been about my design process and the open source-inspired approach has been pretty fun so far!

related topics on the web: design, webdesign, graphicdesign, redesign

Digital Photography Goes To Hell For A Day

2007-05-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

What is the world coming to today?

Kicking off the madness this morning, Derek Powazek, a standup guy and one of the cofounders of JPG - a photography magazine I love and a startup I almost joined back in Nov - left his baby that he started from scratch with his wife Heather because another cofounder tried to erase the story of how the magazine got started by the husband and wife superteam. Then, as if that wasn't enough, one of Flickr's most popular photographers found out a poster company stole some of her photography for a profit of thousands of dollars and when she complained about it, what did Flickr do? They decided to ban her original photos for her troubles, of course!

WTF is up with all this drama, censorship and power-tripping? I'm having Web 1.0 flashbacks.

But it looks like there might be some serious Web 2.0-style payback, at least for JPG - the publicity from the faux paus has already resulted in droves of paying subscribers cancelling their subscriptions, deleting their accounts and deciding to stop contributing their stories and pictures. That's a pretty serious blow towards a business model that rests entirely on the idea of fostering an active and involved community. Whether it's a death knell or not remains to be seen (the magazine is projected to do $2.5 million in revenue during its first year, according to some accounts) but it was fascinating to see the power of digg firsthand - the commenters on the thread actually counted down the number of subscribers on JPG's home page as people removed their accounts.

Update: Paul tells his side of the JPG story. My take: putting aside the generally cool tone of the writing and the neutral CEO corporatespeak (avoiding a sense of ownership with a lot of "we" this and "we" that), Paul flatly denies that anyone tried to rewrite the story behind JPG's creation but without giving any reason why Derek would leave his own company. But here's the really creepy part: I think I may have caught Paul in a lie, because although JPG's about page currently mentions both the early pre-8020publishing issues and Heather's involvment, Google's cached version from May 9th is noticeably different and doesn't have any of that verbiage at all. Tsk tsk.

related topics on the web: jpg, jpgmag, flickr, photography, censorship, powazek

My Rock Star Friends

2007-04-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

This is probably the flat out funniest and raddest IM reply I've ever gotten in my life:

alperabut: dude

alperabut: I saw a $200k Porsche Carrera GT yesterday

alperabut: getting serviced at a run down used car place

alperabut: how funny is that?

friend: hold on, I'm banging a chick right now

friend: (seriously, she's putting on a school girl outfit in the bathroom right now)

friend: but, I do need to talk with you...can I call you later?

alperabut: HAHAHAHA

alperabut: best IM ever

alperabut: sure, call me

alperabut: let me blog that?

friend: ok, but take my name off

alperabut: I will, for sure

friend: and not like alxxxabut

alperabut: haha

alperabut: my name's not don

alperabut: go get em, tiger

What a nerdy stud. I mean, who stays on IM when they're getting some?

related topics on the web: friends, funny, IM

W3C Yeah You Know Me

2007-03-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's official, I'm one of a gazillion "invited experts" for the HTML working group of the W3C, the internet standards body that basically created the world wide web as we know it. In theory, it means that I can help shape the HTML standard while it gets ratified by 2010. In reality, I'll probably just be a list lurker and keep in touch with developments while the geniuses hammer stuff out, especially since invited experts only participate in discussions and don't have voting powers.

Either way, I'm super super stoked to be involved in any capacity. I've been evangelizing, giving talks about and using web standards at work for a long time but until now, I've always felt like I was looking from the outside in, trying to divine what the future direction of markup would be from scant information. The W3C has been a bit of a clubby ivory tower, with members sponsored by giant corporate employers that can easily afford the $10,000 annual dues per representative and more importantly, had their own intranet-centric agendas in mind rather than interoperability with the internet at large.

In recent years, the various flavors of HTML have been on the brink of sliding into irrelevance while the standard has been sitting nascent and other markup-based developments have been gaining steam instead, such as MXML for Flex, XAML for Vista, and various types of programming similar to HTML/CSS/Javascript to create widgets for Apple's Dashboard, Google Desktop's Sidebar, Google's personalized home pages, Vista's gadgets, Yahoo! Widget Engine (Konfabulator) and the Netvibes Universal API. This developing ecosystem is very exciting, not the least of which is because the line between web and desktop applications are blurring - developers can start to use the same skill set across multiple mediums, sometimes even at the same time, in the case of Apollo.

Even more importantly, the vacuum of development on the HTML standard spurred the creation of an alternative standards body called the WHATWG in 2004, created specifically to address this need and as a response to the slow development of the official web standards monitored by the W3C. The greatest contributors were Google, Mozilla Foundation, Opera Software and Apple Computer, trying to push forward with HTML innovations and to create a new HTML 5 standard while the HTML 4.01 specification languished, unresponsive to the recent advances in web browsers like Safari, Firefox or Opera.

So in the face of such a furious pace of activity, the W3C has finally decided to fight for its place in the modern web scene by opening up the new working group to the very developers that will end up implementing their work, instead of staying a closed group like they have in the past. Membership as an invited expert is free and open to the public! I don't envy the role of the discussion moderators trying to form consensus but in the end, this can only be a good thing.

The best part is that this happens in the midst of my transferring from one Flash job to another. Irony.

Oops, that last bit was the big news I was hinting at in a previous post. Ok, I'll have more details later :)

related topics on the web: w3c, html, standards, webstandards, markup, programming, webdesign

The Swedish Chef Loves The N.R.A.

2007-03-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've got some big news to announce but I don't feel like typing it up on such a beautiful Sunday - don't worry, it's good news, I'm just being lazy - so here's a funny video of the Swedish Chef to cheer up your Monday morning instead. The late genius Jim Henson did the voice acting and animated the head, while the equally talented Frank Oz did the hands.

I started looking up Muppet videos today when I saw the news that Disney has created free-roaming audio-animatronic Muppet robots that are capable of seeing and talking to tourists - how rad is that? There's no wires or a visible puppeteer anywhere in sight, just a gaggle of kids crowding around and interacting with two of my favorite characters: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his freaky speed-addicted little assistant Beaker. See the LA Times article on them for more reading and the Youtube video of them in action, also embedded below:

related topics on the web: muppets, funny, video, youtube, guns, cooking, robots, animatronic, Disney, Disneyland, CaliforniaAdventure

Left Field

2007-02-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Kelly asks one of life's eternal burning questions.

[16:02] Kelly Abbott: hey, can you tell me what all the hub-bub about emo is? it's not a term we used to describe music when i was into terms for describing music. I listen to emo streams on last.fm and it all sucks.

[16:03] Kelly Abbott: where the fuck did emo come from?

[16:03] alperabut: ha

[16:03] alperabut: such a great question!

[16:04] alperabut: I've wondered the same thing and never axed anyone aloud

[16:04] alperabut: I've heard stuff in the emo genre that I used to listen to back in the day but had no idea that it was emo, back then anyway

[16:04] alperabut: didn't hear about it until the last few years

[16:04] alperabut: could it be a rebranding effort?

[16:04] alperabut: labelling a music genre after the fact?

[16:07] Kelly Abbott: it's terrible

[16:07] Kelly Abbott: all of it

[16:10] alperabut: ha

[16:10] alperabut: give pandora another whirl

[16:10] alperabut: music snob

[16:39] Kelly Abbott: it's not last.fm that sucks

[16:39] Kelly Abbott: it's emo that sucks.

elsewhere on the web: IM, friends, funny, music, pandora, last.fm, lastfm

Macworld Photos

2007-01-10T00:53:00.000-08:00

To go along with my youtube videos from earlier today, I've also put up a small collection of pictures of the apple tv and iphone from lunch today on Flickr. Enjoy!

elsewhere on the web: appletv, phone, iPhone, apple, mac, macworld

Youtubing The iPhone

2007-01-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

I grabbed my skateboard and jammed over to Macworld at lunch to check out Apple's super hot new products, the iPhone and Apple TV. I took a bunch of pics and also uploaded two video clips to Youtube - a closeup of the iPhone rotating and another of the throngs of people surrounding the iPhone - neither of which get across how impossibly thin the phone is in person. Extremely lickable! I'm definitely getting one in June.

elsewhere on the web: phone, iPhone, apple, mac, macworld, video, youtube

Thinking About Food

2007-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Fellow 3ones member Christian Spinillo is a big foodie and linked to a Rolling Stone article about Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer and apparently the poster child of immoral world domination. Seriously, the atrocities described in that piece make Fast Food Nation look soft in comparison.

The article reminded me of something I realized only recently - there's a big difference between organic food and humane treatment of the animals used to make the food. Those two labels don't necessarily mean the same thing and you really have to hunt sometimes to find food that's both.

I was thinking about that Sunday morning because I had grilled up some bacon that I got from Trader Joe's and the long laundry list of positive qualities on the front of the package was really impressive - no nitrites, no hormones or antibiotics, all vegetarian feed, free roaming pigs, etc - which probably was intended to be good marketing catchphrases for a newbie hippie foodie like me. And it worked. On the other hand, when I'm at Safeway shopping for eggs, I always feel like I have to choose between organic eggs that are the products of grain-fed chickens without antibiotics and the ones from free range uncaged ones that are being fed who-knows-what. I can never seem to find a brand that's both.

What adds to my trepidation is that I know that a lot of these newfangled so-called organic companies are actually rebranded versions of BigCos like Coca Cola and since big evil corporations will cut whatever corners they can find, stuff that is labeled "organic" might still be the same old factory-based inhumane treatment as always. So if something doesn't explicitly say what the animals were fed or the conditions they were raised under, you can pretty much be confident in assuming the worst.

There's another reason to shop according to a moral compass - that bacon from this morning tasted sooo good... it was absolutely yummy. It's also the reason why some of the expensive cheeses I like are so damn tasty - they come from tiny little farms where they treat the cows or goats like queens, with plenty of fresh grass (not grains!) and only seasonal milkings. An example is Cypress Grove Chevre, a little family-owned company that makes the popular Northern Californian cheese Humboldt Fog.

Great, now I'm hungry.

elsewhere on the web: food, organic, health, lifestyle

Going To Macworld, Oh Yeah

2007-01-02T00:02:00.000-08:00

I'm going to Nerdvana in less than a week, to the Macworld Conference & Expo! That's right, be jealous.

The image on Apple's home page today is getting me totally amped up for what kind of goodies might be coming down the pipe.

Ohboyohboyohboyohboy...

I have a feeling that there's going to be some pretty big announcements and the rumors are flying hot and heavy, like the ones about the much-anticipated iPhone. But regardless of new products, I'm looking forward to taking my sweet time to explore the giant exhibitors area this year, since I only had about 30 minutes last year when I went for the first time on a friend's borrowed pass.

Speaking of borrowing, does anyone want to use my pass for one of the days that I don't go? I mean, this thing is like four days long and I'm definitely not taking the whole week off. Also, for anybody that wants their own pass, they're pretty cheap - I've got a coupon code so you can get the same early bird $25 price that I got (it's up to $45 or so now).

elsewhere on the web: apple, mac, conferences, macworld, macworld07, macworld2007, macworldexpo, macworldexpo07, macworldexpo2007, conference, fun, tech, technology

Unsubmitted To JPG

2006-12-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Update: I got an email from JPG Magazine that my photo was removed as a submission for the "9 to 5" theme and although I was really disappointed at first, I cruised through the rest of the pics in the submission gallery and I have to admit that they're all pretty much of people doing real work, not just blowing off steam at their workplace like mine. Hey man, it's not my fault web developers make boring photo subjects :)

Oh well, next time. And thanks for all the votes! It's definitely encouragement to go take more pics and submit again - it was fun to watch the votes rack up.

Submission To JPG Magazine

2006-12-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

Update: darn, my photo was removed from the submission gallery - apparently it wasn't exactly work-related enough.

I just submitted the photograph below to the next issue of JPG magazine, for their "9 to 5" theme:

If you like it, take a second and ~~go vote for it~~! There's also a short little story about it on the jpgmag site, about what the captions behind the players' heads say and how they got there.

Man, it's fun to shoot film again, although this pic was shot back in Halloween and I haven't developed any rolls since then. I think I need another trip to Photoworks to process some film.

elsewhere on the web: work, photography, photos, jpgmag, fun, friends, work, magazine,

My Friend's Nephew

2006-12-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Guys, I'm hoping we can pull together to help out an art director friend of mine - his little baby nephew got injured and is in the hospital. The little dude is only 6 months old. It would go such a long way if you could find even a little bit of cash to fork over:

http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/rv3gen/mateo_vargas_benifit_fund/

From the website:

"I am starting a donation fund for my nephew Mateo Vargas and his mounting medical bills. Mateo is a 6 month old boy struggling to survive injuries sustained on 12-6-06. Mateo’s family is also trying to cope with paying bills while staying by his side in the hospital. Mateo’s father Max Vargas and his mother Maria Martinez need help supporting their 4 other children while Mateo is in critical condition, especially now during this holiday season. Any money you can spare would go a long way to help out Mateo and his family. Thank you so much for your time and donations."

As an aside, my friend Rich is one of the coolest people I know, an honestly good guy, on top of the amazing 3D stuff he does here at my work. He recently moved back to New Mexico and telecommutes from there just to be near his family and to help out another sick family member. Rich has the right priorities in life and he's never complained to me even once about whatever cards his family's been dealt - he just sacks up and supports those that are close to him. So it'd mean a lot if such a good and giving person could have others come to his aid instead.

elsewhere on the web: fundraising, donotation, charity, emergency>, humanitarian

Wrapping Up November

2006-11-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

I've had a bit of radio silence the last few weeks, here's what's been going on lately:

poker/vegas - I'm still thinking about what an awesome time I had and it probably deserves a separate writeup of its own. a couple of guys at work started talking about finally doing a "bro trip" sometime in 07 too - that would be rad if it comes together.
atkins - I lost another 5 pounds last week, bringing my total loss for the month since I started to 16. That was a welcome relief after hitting a plateau for a big fat zero pounds lost or gained the week before, which was a tiny bit demoralizing even though I knew that it was probably because I finally added exercise to the mix. Even better, I'm a pound under the weight my doctor wanted to be at when I see him for the next checkup and a month ahead of schedule, so I'm on track to lose even more by the time I see him hopefully.
adobe max - I was still intending to post what a crap conference it was, but honestly, once I had to do a post-mortem for work on the things that actually were interesting and useful, I realized there might be some good info in there after all. so look for an upcoming post about that.
Point Reyes - I took a Saturday day trip on the motorcycle out of the city, finally, and went to a gorgeous place called Point Reyes based on the recommendation of an SFist blog post about the area. I hadn't gotten out of the city for a long time, since the spring, and it was so worth it, an incredibly beautiful stretch of land just north of the city. I definitely need a bigger bike for this kind of stuff, although it was fun riding regardless - coming back on highway 1 involved a 30 mile stretch of road so curvy that I was in second gear for most of it and even scraped a foot peg on the ground on one of the turns!
AS 2.0 - I'm finally jumping into actionscript 2.0 in preparation for the even bigger jump to actionscript 3.0, which has an extremely Java-like syntax. I'm starting to use it for little pieces of day work and now in personal stuff on the side - it most definitely is a huge mind shift in some ways to go from a procedural to OOP language, but in other ways I think it's really easy for Flash developers to grok OOP because we already understand and manipulate "objects" for a living. very fun, a little hard at times, it's great to be a newbie again.
Isabelle's fundraiser - my girlfriend Yesi's sister is running a marathon and raising money along the way for a great cause, blog post about that to come soon too.
Yesi's graduation - she's wrapping up nursing school and graduation is just around the corner! I can't wait for her to be done, she's done so well and gotten such great references that I feel like the Bay Area health care industry is her oyster.
photography redux - I'm shooting film again and loving it (my friend John Dick called it a warmup to one of those big honking digital cameras - I can see that) but also hating it (no preview or review makes me feel like I'm flying blind and I only just last week figured out how to put these on the web, I'm going to do it when I get back).
halloween madness - I didn't go out or celebrate the occasion this year, but I didn't realize that they go big for halloween here and that party central passes right in front of my doorstep. I've got a little bit of film and some camera pics of the insane crowd at the bart station trying to make their way through my neighborhood to the Castro. I felt like I was part of the school of salmon making their way upstream, part of an estimated 250,000 people to make their way to that part of town.
pandora - I'm still in love with this damn web app. My latest trick is to use the quickmix to shuffle amongst stations, it's a pretty rad feature. I pick mellow stations for background aural fuel while working and kickass stations based on artists like James Brown for fun occasions like poker.
persepolis - I picked up a graphic novel for the first time in ages and went to see the author Marjane Satrapi at a book signing, over at Booksmith in the Haight. I didn't end up getting the book signed, the line was way too long and I don't really see the point, actually. that night ended up being pretty fun - I met up with Diana and a few of her off-work friends to enjoy a couple of pints of Guinness and play pool with some locals. I haven't picked up a cue in years and it was pretty fun, it gave me a taste for more.
skateboarding again - I picked up a custom-made skateboard for the first time in several years and got into the groove of skating to work. I've been doing it for just over a week and was getting along incident-free until I ate it twice on the way to work last Friday. So ever the the thoughtful nerd, I picked up some wrist guards last night to wear under my sweatshirt and low and behold, I ended up needing to use both of them this very morning when I went SPLAT! right in front of the bart station. Thankfully, the wrist guards worked as advertised and I came away nearly intact, with just a minor scrape on the elbow. It's a hell of a lot of fun and my left knee feels great, it's a lot less walking to work now.

That's about it! I'm looking forward to an awesome Thanksgiving weekend and hope you all have a great time too, remember to be thankful for what you have. Speaking of being thankful, Saturday is Yesi's birthday and I'm hoping to put together something really fun to show her how thankful for her I've been this last year. We're going to have a great time at the Getty in LA, it's one of our favorite spots and I don't think we've gone since last year or possibly even longer ago. I'm really looking forward to it!

Twittering In Vegas

2006-10-31T00:53:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the Vegas trip and still recuperating actually :) because I went big, wrapping up the last day and a half by staying up 48 hours with a 3 hour nap break. I did okay poker-wise, ending up cash positive for the week with some monster winning sessions at the MGM Grand. A coworker today confirmed that they have a soft poker room there - his buddy is on the WPT tour and came up as a pro in Vegas taking tourists at MGM's loose games. I got to hang out with fellow 3ones brother Christian Spinillo for the first time - it was great to actually finally meet one of my digital tribe face-to-face. He also did pretty well poker-wise the last time we talked, mainly at the Palms I think. The Adobe conference itself was hit and miss - I'm putting together a presentation with the coworkers that I went with, so I'll repost here later this week or next for the nerds.

Also while I was away, I sent status updates via my Twitter page. Twitter is a neat service, one I've been utterly addicted to in the last few months. Looking back on the updates I sent during last week's trip, they give a little bit of a hint of the rollercoaster ride that was last week:

doing one last crucial batch of laundry before heading to Vegas for the bigass Adobe conference.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/47407

walking through my neighborhood pre-dawn like a thief in the night and commuting out to SFO. And starting to get excited for the week's adventures.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/47551

totally repulsed by all the sales and marketing types I'm meeting at the Adobe conference. My three coworkers and I have made ZERO geek friends here.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/48456

enjoying my winnings after my first poker session ever in Vegas, about to head back for more.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/48645

walking around the Caesar's mall with Christian from 3ones while he does hubby shopping duties.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/49138

finally sitting with some genuine sharks at Caesar's poker room and just barely staying even while watching them bully everybody around.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/49353

just waking up from a 3 hour nap after an all-night poker session, about to go on an even bigger bender for 24 hours with no sleep until I fly back.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/50227

wishing Kelly Abbott was playing poker with me here in Vegas - I've only been robbing strangers until now.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/50562

just leaving SFO - even the air is better here. So glad to be back from the smokey hell that is Vegas, regardless of winning at poker.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/51030

finally home and ready to crash. My tank is on E like a procrastinating slacker going into finals week. Or so I've heard.

http://twitter.com/alabut/statuses/51056

If you want to try out being a Twitter buddy, send me your email or phone number and I'll send out an invite.

So yeah, I think I sucked it up and did Vegas right. Not only that, I did all the partying while kicking off the first week of the Atkins diet, and the first two weeks are way hard. No caffeine, no alcohol, a boatload of water - it was like a detox. I've been meaning to kick caffeine for over two years and the withdrawal wasn't as bad as I thought. Then again, I was away from work and didn't have to do any programming or anything else as intensive as that. Plus the buffets really help in crafting together exactly the meal you want. It's going to be a challenge to keep it up now that I'm back in town and have to do some cooking. That's a whole other post though, probably in a few weeks with a status update.

Man, it is so damn great to be back home.

elsewhere on the web: twitter, lasvegas, adobemax, adobe, macromedia, conference, flash, vacation, poker