Morning Light

My Peeps

Nice to be home with my family. :-)

Table's Set

Ready to Roast

Into the oven Mr. Turkey goes...

Flowers from the garden

Nice to live in California and have wild flowers almost the whole year...

Here comes the pie

Can you smell it yet?



Something tells me this pie won't see tomorrow...

Cranberry sauce

done. with fresh cranberries, raspberries, maple syrup and pecans

Herb paste

Goes under the turkey skin.

Stuffing

done

Should we name him?

cooking with my mom. We are starting with the turkey. Next is the
apple pie.

US Recession - Animation

Pretty freaky to take a look at this (click the link to watch the animation):



The unemployment rates in the US by county - watch how they change over the last two years.

So after you finish watching, you see that things have pretty much faded to black by September of this year.

But perhaps even more interesting are the comments in the article over here. The commenters discuss how the animation can be totally misleading. Note that "alarm colors" like red and orange are used predominantly - even at only 4-5% unemployment (and 4% is considered normal.) Black is the end of the road (dead dead dead) - at 10% unemployment. But in essence, because of the colors, and because there is no interpretation or norms shown or averages over time before or after or in comparison to other countries, you just look at the animation and think: "oh shit." Pretty fascinating what a graphic can do to instill feelings of alarm and panic. If the same graphic had been shown in blues and pinks I am not so sure that it would have looked so terrible.

This said, I read that unemployment statistics from my former home state (Michigan) are over 15%. And Detroit....no big surprise...over 30%. Yesterday, I read a rather alarming article that advertising agency BBDO Detroit will lay off its ENTIRE staff (over 400 people) in response to losing the Chrysler account.

Foodspotter

I am a foodspotter now! ;-)
(Another beta...uh...i mean Alpha in this case...they are not even to Beta yet.)

But a fun one for me.



If you sign up to help test out foodpsotter you can post photos of food you have spotted (and even better--eaten). You can write a few words about the food and link it to a specific (physical) address. And then of course you can look at the food other people have spotted - and search for specific dishes or specific restaurants or specific locations. Nice.

More Augmented Reality

Just took a look at this video - a Ted Talk - by Pranav Mistry, who works and does his research over at MIT Media Labs. Reminds you (of course) of Minority Report a bit. But this is where Augmented Reality is going in the future. Don't want to watch the whole thing? Start watching at the 6'24 point (6 minutes, 24 seconds).

Augmented Reality in Esquire Magazine

I gotta say, that when I hear about Augmented Reality these days (the *new* *big* *up-and-coming* *thing* in the digital space), it is generally in conjunction with mapping and navigation. (All kinds of crazy cool stuff happening here and I can't wait to try out a bunch of it next week in San Francisco...).

So this little video surprised me a bit - I hadn't heard of people combining Augmented Reality and print....and digital...all in one. But Esquire magazine is doing it this month. Based on the clip, I have to say it still looks a bit more gimmicky than really useful (unlike the augmented reality for the mapping and navigation applications). But the potential is there.

It also looks like it might be a bit of a pain in the neck to experience. You have to download special software (I assume QR code reader software...) and install it, and then hold the magazine up to a web cam...and then you get the extra content. There should be a way to consume more easily. Of course...they need to offer the same content via the iphone...is the next obvious step.

Here's the promo clip:

Great Sushi Found in Munich

It does exist. Mallorie and I found it at the lunch table for 8 euros. Amazing. Salad, Soup, Sushi (well, Mal had tempura), little scoop of ice cream for dessert. Perfect.

It was Mallorie's 1-year anniversary with Sapient. :-)))

Doesn't she look happy?

You think I am gonna tell you where this place is? NO WAY. My secret. ;-)

(Mitani, over on Rablstrasse near Rosenheimer Platz. Place was FILLED with Japanese people...)

Sometimes you don't want to be part of the beta

I sign up for my own personal torture enough - you know, beta-testing new technologies so I can see what is up and coming. But the thing is...I SIGN UP. Sometimes, though, technology companies decide they are simply gonna sign you up whether you want to be signed up or not. So you get to read MORE stuff and feel even MORE behind than ever before when you don't manage it. Like Twitter. Who sent me this nice message this morning (and also a few mornings back....)

Can I turn it off? No.

AFAR

Just saw this video on AFAR magazine - a new travel magazine that writes about "experiential" travel. I don't like the little clip much, these guys don't feel authentic enough for me - I mean...if you watch the video, you'll see they came up with their idea on Goa...perhaps the least likely place in India to really "experience" India (at least from what I have heard and which they also readily admit in their promo video). Nonetheless, the idea has a lot of potential and a website that takes the idea further is the way to go. Like...links and articles about homestays around the world (NYTIMES just did a piece on this), real restaurant/hole in the wall reviews sort of like Singapore's "Makansutra" guide - which reviews food stalls telling you where to find the absolute best char kway teow, or even concepts like this one - where you can learn how to sail by working on a sailboat for a few weeks. If I look at their website (set to launch in full in spring of next year), it looks like they are at least thinking in this direction.



Hey guys, give me a ring - let me do your website....

Göreme

Was just having lunch at the favorite Pide place around the corner from us and rather than take the Pide to go, we decided to sit down and eat it there. Much better - then it is piping hot - fresh out of the oven. And they gave us tea while we waited for them to bake the Pide.

Most people in fact, just go to the place to pick up a Pide and take it with them. But if you venture inside and sit down to eat, you'll see the rather crazy model they have built up near the ceiling of the place in Turkey called Göreme.

I haven't been there yet, but have seen photos from friends who have been there. It is this city that has been built into natural volcanic rock formations.

It was an ancient Christian hideout - which can be seen by the elaborate churches built inside the mountains....


I think this place is definitely worth a visit. I wonder how cold it is in Turkey this time of year.

Loot from Japan

My colleague and friend Britta just got back from a 3-week long trip to Japan. I've never been there, despite living in Asia for a couple years, but have always wanted to go. I had a chance way back when, but I turned it down because I was concerned about not being able to study enough at the time (first semester MBA program). Now, of course, I am sorry I did. Britta posted Facebook status updates faithfully all throughout her trip, making me very jealous. (what she ate, the spas she visited, the shopping in tokoyo...etc.)

But...she is back now, suffering along with the rest of us in cold grey Munich. (Her status message when she arrived was rather telling: "back in cold dirty Germany, and will not miss the toilette shoes, but the food, the onsen, and much more, happy to be back too though _ need sleep")

And...I got PRESENTS. Lots of presents from Japan. Check it out.


A "Hello Kitty" sponge
A stick of gum
A packet of rose-scented salt (? gotta figure that out)
Some sort of dried cranberries
And my absolute favorite....SUSHI STICKERS!

The New Knife

I spent about 9 hours today working on a proposal (including team conferences, etc.) that we'll send over to the client tomorrow. But it went quite well - I was able to concentrate and felt very efficient despite the fact that I was sitting on my butt most of the day. Quite pleased with the results, so we'll see what happens. Might get to travel to the client in Milan...so there are perks for working for 9 hours on a Sunday.

Finished everything up at about 5:30 pm, sent it off to the account director, and then....started to cook dinner. Nothing fancy - just a favorite Jamie Oliver recipe (Lebanese chicken - with preserved lemons and baked bulgar and fennel) that I haven't made in awhile. But the fun part was that I finally got to use a new knife I bought last week. I splurged and bought a REALLY BEAUTIFUL Japanese knife mid-week and hadn't really had a chance to test it out yet.

Gotta say, it was amazing. It cut through chicken joints like they were made out of butter, and sliced the onions and fennel effortlessly as well. Was a real pleasure to use. Looking forward to cooking more with it.

One of the things I really like in addition to the sharpness of the blade is the shape of the handle. It fits snugly in the hand because of the slightly irregular shape. Apparently the Japanese call it a chestnut handle - because the circumference of the handle is roughly in the shape of a chestnut.

Nice nice nice. Highly recommended.
It is a "Shun" - The scalloped Santoku Knife 6 1/2"

Ribbit Mobile

I have been following this company for over a year now waiting for them to role out their service because it looks so cool. And then they were bought by British Telecom (BT) some time back and I thought DAMN IT....cause I thought that they would be only offering the service as some sort of B2B offering or only to BT customers. But....looks like this is not the case. While they are still pursuing B2B revenue streams (their technology just incorporated into Google Wave for voice functionality!), they seem to finally be offering a consumer service as well. But....I'm still frustrated. I just went to sign up for the private beta, and it seems as though you need to be from the US or UK in order to participate. I could simply say I am from the US, but then I would need to have a US mobile number....and I guess there are even work-arounds for this - I could sign up for a US-based Skype number - but I just am not into the hassle. Hoping that they will role it out in Germany sooner rather than later.

Happy Halloween, Part 2

I have a new (non iphone) phone that I am still getting used to, so it took me a bit of time to figure out how to download all the photos from the party on Saturday night. But finally, here is a little sample of the scaaaaaaaaary party. Lots of Vampires.

For those of you wondering how I made the iphone - it was extremely easy. I saw a big box at the office on Friday afternoon (some sort of delivery). I thought....'hm, that is about the right size for an iphone costume." So I printed out a HUGE picture of the iphone, took the box home, spraypainted it black, glued the printout on the front of the box and an apple logo on the back, cut out arm holes and a head hole and...voila! Done. Easy costume. Not particularly comfortable, (can't sit down in it), but nice and easy and I got a lot of laughs.