The Smarter Surfer Uses Hudin
Upon browsing the log statistics for this site (which is possible my fourth favorite hobby), I was happy to see that the percentage of Internet Explorer 6 users sits at about 41% of total traffic for March. For those who don't know, IE6 is crap. It's broken. It's bug-prone. It's a security hazard. And well, just get Firefox. Firefox is by far and away the best browser out there right now and naturally, it's free! It also happens to be the case that 21% of total traffic to the site uses Firefox. An unfortunate 6% are using Safari which is really just IE6's slightly less inbred cousin for the Mac.
But hey, I realize that not everyone wants to use Firefox (despite it's awesomeness) so I won't fault a person for using Internet Explorer 7 on Windows. This browser is much better than version 6. I'm still convinced that Microsoft bought Opera's codebase from them because so many bugs are similar between the two, but whatever the case, it's an improvement. It's the fact that 20% of the users of this site are on IE7 that I'm pretty sure that Hudin fans are smarter than most others.
Compared to other sites, these statistics are amazing. I've seen IE6 usage around 55-60% on other big sites, which is just sad. I know that upgrading can be a real pain, especially if you're on a slower connection, but if you can, get Firefox! Hudin salutes you :)
30 03 2007 1 comment
Tags: hudin, internet explorer, stats, websites
Nearing a More Perfect Cup of Tea
If you follow along in the Tea Reviews section, then you're very aware of how much I like tea. One unfortunate personal downfall is that despite my love of the leaf, the ability to make the perfect loose leaf cup seems be an elusive goal for me. This tends to result in the cop out of using bags and while they're good, they're not really ever as perfect as loose leaf can be, when made right of course. They also happen to be considerably more expensive and less environmentally friendly, since pure tea leaves are so easy to compost and recycle.
But, it seems that with hundreds of attempts under my belt, I'm starting to get closer to figuring out proper loose leaf methods. My problems all seemed to revolve around the amount (I put in too much) and the steep time (I let it sit too long). About a pinch and a half from my big monkey fingers seems to be the right amount for a single cup that is laced with a lot of flavor, but not too much flavor to the point of being overwhelming. As for the time I've been letting it steep, this is still something of a work in progress. At times, I get it just right by leaving it shorter than what seems should be enough time to me. But still, I'm over steeping just a little much. If I pay attention to the color that seems to help.
I'm sure I'll get it right someday and while this is a silly pursuit, at least it's not a costly one since the only things I need are tea leaves and boiling water. There is no $400 machine that I need like in coffee and the fact you have to "meditate" a bit to get the cup right is something that I like. Anyways, I've got a large lot of loose leaf samples coming from a tea blender for me to review, so I'll get more practice and more reviews up in due course.
28 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: better buying, tea, tea reviews
I... Hate Embassies...
Grrr. For some reason, a friend thought that it would be easier for me to drop off her visa application for China directly to the Chinese embassy and like an idiot showing how green an international traveler I am, I accepted. Bad move. Just like the DMV, there is always a line at the embassy and I was one of the morons stuck in it.
It probably wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that the amount of people cutting in line blew my mind. You could just watch one after the other go to the front with the obvious perception that their needs are greater than anyone else's when we all have the same stupid reason for being there; getting a visa. You'd think that people would try to stop them, but no, they don't. I was getting ready to clothesline someone if they tried it when I was at the head of the line, but nobody made the attempt.
Of course, people will probably assume that I'm talking about Chinese cutting to the front because if you've ever made the mistake of walking down Stockton Street on the weekend, you know that the concept of the line is something lost on those groups in Chinatown. But no, these were plain old white folk doing this. How these people were going to survive in China was beyond me.
Added in to all of this frustration was the fact that I just recently heard Monty Python's I Like Chinese (song mp3) all the way through for the first time. So of course that was bouncing around in my head the whole time. Thankfully, before I really pissed anyone off by blurting the lyrics out loud, I started to rewrite the song to be, "I hate embassies..."
27 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: embassy, i like chinese, visa
Pieces of Childhood
When going up to Oroville to visit my mom last weekend, I looked back over San Francisco as I drove out on the Bay Bridge. It's a heavenly sight. Yes, it's true that it's full of buildings that worship the sky on the tip of the peninsula as little illuminated phalli, but still, it's something else to see the wash and stretch of humanity sweep over downtown. The only thing better than this is of course seeing it again when you return. That view is even better, unobstructed from the top deck of the bridge.
Going to my childhood home reminded me of some of my first memories outside that area. My most vivid were of San Francisco and the exact same view I was seeing last Thursday. As a child it was amazing. Coming from such a small town, the size of everything was simply overwhelming. And while I've become adjusted to this and don't look up when walking through the Financial District, the ever-changing nature of the City (see One Rincon Hill) will always ensure that I'll never get bored living here.
I don't know why it is that this particular time when leaving the City struck me so much more than others, but I suppose that after living here nearly four years, it's starting to feel like a real home. Of course, a home where you always find a new room on a daily basis.
26 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: oroville, san francisco
Not Your Typical Chardonnay
Just to close out my week of Napa trip recap, I have to share a funny thing about Chardonnay. I'm of the belief that 99.99% of wine drinkers hate it. My reasoning for this goes beyond Sideways comments and arises from the fact that at every winery we went to a week ago, a chardonnay would be part of the flight tastings. While that kind of consistency was to be expected, what was really funny was the nearly verbatim description of the chardonnay as they poured it. It was something along the lines of, "A very bright, crisp chardonnay. No oak at all. Not your typical chardonnay. Very enjoyable." This translates in to yeah, kinda drinkable. Maybe better mixed in a spritzer. Certainly not going to buy it.
Those winery pouring lines are the same words that I hear from the 0.01% of wine drinkers who like chardonnay and are always trying to pimp it to the rest of us. What is it with this wine? I mean really, in general it sucks. Yeah, I'm a red wine drinker, but I do like a good deal of whites. Chardonnay just always tastes like the bastard child of the winery that they've begrudgingly made because they feel that they have to. Well, lemme tell ya, you don't. You can stop. You can stop tomorrow. You can rip out all those vines and put in viognier or anything. Just stop making chardonnay. I know that you'd lose those drunken, super plasticized "Corvette couples" with the fake tans and all, but seriously, who buys more wine? Red freaks like my woman and I, that's who. I've got four cases at home right now just because I like to look at it and be prepared for spontaneous party attacks. But is there any chardonnay in there? No. None. At. All.
22 03 2007 1 comment
Tags: chardonnay, smell my cork
Life Under Proxy
So, let me get a little technical for a moment. You see, out there in the work and professional world there exists the IT Manager/Director who tries to enforce how people use the internet at a office. For awhile, when I did my stint in this field, I tried to do this, but found it to be futile and get people to hate me so I stopped bothering and let people run around doing whatever the want. Human Resources could deal with any issues that there were, not me.
There is technology that can make this type of censorship possible. One specific device that many insecure little IT minions use is called a Proxy Server. I will not bore you with the details of this except suffice to say it gives the IT boys infinite control in one spot for all the sites and places that people in an office can visit. For the man who can't buy a Porsche, this is a dream come true. For the end user, it makes life hell.
The biggest problems in using these is that they're old technology and while there are new ones out there that are supposed to be good, they really suck for the most part. Having this one point where all internet traffic is funneled creates a massive bottleneck in the transport of electronic information. This generally results in the damned device crashing often. Then of course there's the fact that un-Porsched guys can't configure the things correctly to save their lives and wonderful things happen such as when you try to go to a site that doesn't exist and it crashes your browser. Super sucko.
I could go on and on about how these get overloaded and just what a generally bad idea they are, but I'd like to offer and alternative which is to stop caring and buy more bandwidth. There is one Sometimes Office that I've worked at where they had two T1 connections (pretty fast) and they weren't enough speed for the office. So, instead of buying a $70 a month DSL connection that would have been three times faster than what was there, the IT guy decided to put in the proxy server to control things. This ended up being one of many bad moves by the guy.
I managed to live with it, but the office suffered a lot of downtime. Why they keep him around, I don't get it, but I realized now why IT is so hated and I'm thrilled not to be part of it anymore!
21 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: technology, the sometimes office
I Love Frog's Leap
As I said yesterday, Frog's Leap Winery is great. Like many wineries, they do charge for an actual tasting ($10 I believe) and you have to make reservations, which sucks quite a lot seeing as how I'm not the reservations kind of guy when it comes to my vino boozin'. But, making up for that is the fact that they seem to have a bottle of something always open and are willing to pour it if you stop in unannounced. Ah, but what good is one small glass of wine? Well, if you step out back of their house, you can sit outside on the rocking chairs and benches overlooking the vines. This is one of the most soothing things we did in our afternoon of travels. While it was quite warm that day, this covered area made for a lovely spot to just sit for a good long while.
But as you notice, I said "house" as in something like a living domicile. This wasn't a mistake in words because their main place is built just like a house. It's really strange, but this is what it is. They've got a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and the lovely, wonderful back porch. I mean really, it feels like I've walked in to my grandparents' home and then someone pops out and greets you. No concierge. No snootiness. Just a bit of over-zealous friendliness, but I'll gladly take that over any kind of attitude.
Once we were done with a glass of free Sauvignon Blanc and came back in there, wasn't any push to buy wines. Not even a subtle one. They just seemed happy to have us and it was great. Naturally, this technique got me to spend $45 on a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon which, if it's half as good as the staff there, will be great!
19 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: frogs leap, napa, smell my cork
Enjoying the Silverado Trail
A lot of folks around here know Napa Valley for its great wines. I've loved it for a great many years now. The only problem is that over the last eight or nine years, I've found the main part of the valley to get continually snobby and over the top. They still make great wines there and I'll gladly keep going for visits, but the attitude can get to be a tad much.
Enter The Silverado Trail. While it's not really a hidden gem, since a lot of people know about it, it's still a great alternative to the wineries that plaster Highway 29 through the main part of the valley. I found that the wineries there are more mellow and easy going. That seems to be something of a hallmark difference for them, since naturally they need some sort of "gimmick" to get people off the main drag. All told, we went through Frog's Leap which was great, but at the same time kinda strange since it's like you're walking in to someone's house when you visit. Still, the back porch area is incredibly relaxing and mellow. After that, we went to William Harrison which was also very mellow. Sitting out on the chairs in front of the winery was incredibly scenic despite the potentially annoying traffic going down Silverado in front of you. Lastly was Rombauer which was a little tough to judge since it was the end of the day, people were pretty drunk and there was a "Corvette couple" drinking the wines and being rather obnoxious. It's a nice setting though and I think I'd definitely go back, albeit earlier in the day.
We bought wines from these three wineries, not the ones on 29 that we visited. Those others were great, but so incredibly high priced. These wines weren't cheap (about $40 a bottle average) but still you felt like you were buying part of something smaller. Also, it seems that the Silverado wineries cut more deals and will either give you a free tasting if you buy the wine (Rombauer and Harrison) or kick down a free glass of whatever was open (Frog's Leap.) I like this. I really like this. It brings back the spirit of Napa that I think used to exist, but has gotten lost over the years...
18 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: napa, silverado trail, smell my cork
Five O'Clock Art Student Stoner Rock
You know how it is. You're sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon just chilling out and having a good cheesecake when all of the sudden the loudest car stereo you've ever heard starts up. Ah, but the catch is that it's not a car stereo, it's a two waste of resources at the Academy of Art across the street playing that god-awful, noodling guitar and bass crap rock that just runs on and on forever. There's no real melody to it. There's no point to it. The guys playing it are obviously insanely stoned and can just go at it for hours on end. Ah, the Academy of Art, how I wish to see your sorry excuse for an art school completely collapse under the bloated weight of your bullshit faculty and curriculum.
So, what do you do? Well, you call the cops. Do they show? After two hours of listening to crap rock, no, no they don't. So, you crank up your own music to drown this out and that's about it. And once again, these idiot art students did not exist in my neighborhood when I moved here nearly fours years ago, but the Academy has been rather quickly swallowing up my neighborhood and turning it in to a college campus with the dumbest, most worthless students of all: private art college students.
17 03 2007 0 comments
Tags: academy of art, san francisco
Hmm, This Not Be Good
While the fire doesn't affect most of the Capital Corridor service of Amtrak, it will still cause some problems in general. Not having a car, I like Amtrak a lot, but I have to admit that it does have delays and these are almost always because they rent the rail lines from Union Pacific. The fact that there are no rails in this section now (as you can see from the pictures) is a bit more than just a bureaucratic issue though.
It comes at a pretty bad time too, since this route has gotten quite popular. I just hope that most folks won't assume (as I did at first) that Sacramento will be cut off from the Bay Area. Yeah, I know my Sacramento Valley geography is not so good... But, this route needs to flourish and grow because it's a perfect example of how our national rail system can indeed work if people just give a damn about it!
