Decrepit citizen experience in this poor state. Visited local DMV with my daughter yesterday. Long lines, convoluted processes, web registration access that is outdated at best (and sometimes doesn’t function), filthy bathrooms, crowded and uncomfortable facility. It feels almost inhumane … Continue reading
How to get work done: tips from home renovation expert… Spoke with my sister last weekend about good ways to go about getting a couple of home renovations done on schedule, without unexpected costs. (She’s a pro in the business). Order … Continue reading
Get a “Clocky” … it’s a great alarm clock that doesn’t quit. I gave it to my daughter in college so she never misses an 8am class (well, almost never). I don’t think her roommates are in love with it tho. It doesn’t respect boundaries. This is a short video on how it constructively misbehaves.
Posted in goodies
It amazes me how easy WordPress makes it to give a quick facelift to a site. Other blogging platforms are easy too (Tumblr, etc.) but I’m most familiar with WordPress, and there are a big variety of themes available. Continue reading
Posted in design, goodies, mobile/tablet, online design
The quicksand of email… personal, professional, newsletters, etc. Discovered a mega list of links to tips on how to be organized on The 99 percent recently. One of the links tells you how to empty your email inbox in 30 … Continue reading
I’m now officially a Mayor of not one, but two places on foursquare. Including the Gates of Hell at Stanford. It took me a few weeks to figure out how this works, but it’s pretty easy. If you’re pining to … Continue reading
Made it to the Master Gardeners’ Garden Tour. Five wonderful gardens. Took some photos, capturing both plants I’d like to put into my tiny garden (tho some of the residential gardens were pretty grand, the design ideas wouldn’t exactly translate … Continue reading
I discovered Etsy through pictures posted by Etsy sellers of their crafts on Flickr. I’ve only made one purchase there, a gift which I’m anxiously waiting for from the maker in Thailand. (Imagine… the maker emailed me to insure that the date they would ship it would be ok, and to ask me preferences on how they would make the bag). The purchase was extremely easy to make with a nicely integrated Pay Pal experience, proactively warning me about some processing they had been encountering with certain types of transactions.
Even if I’m not actually shopping, Etsy’s Get the Look newsletters are filled with fun pictures and creative ideas. Unlike the usual merchant newsletter, these are items selected and edited by different people. So you see a range of tastes and ideas. There is the handmade and vintage aesthethic running throughout of course: not a (current) brand in sight. What a breath of fresh air!
Posted in goodies, inspiration
Amsterdam view... Bikes boats and bridges
Wonderful trip to Amsterdam. Most photogenic moments, all captured on the iPhone: astonishing number of bicycles, the canals, bridges, and Dutch delicacies. Thanks to colleagues at our Cisco offices in Amsterdam as well as the folks at Blast Radius for being such wonderful hosts.
Here’s my Flickr set of photos.
PS about these photos and filters on the iPhone: I’ve tried out a number of the camera applications, and sometimes get carried away with the filters a bit. By default I usually use Best Camera now. It has enough built in filters that can be experimented with quickly to get a quick result that adds a little extra punch or flavor. I’ve also tried more bizarre things using JotNot, but it’s much more work with less predictable results. However, JotNot is awesome for capturing receipts and printed materials, like all your travel receipts and sending them to Evernote… so you can submit receipts easily on return home, or file them easy access before next April 15.
On the way to Amsterdam from San Francisco. So many miles. So little space… For legs, arms, books, food, necks, feet, bags. On the last leg of this trip the flight attendant used the bathroom as her “office” — when it wasn’t otherwise occupied of course. For some reason I had to take three different hops to get over there. Looking forward to a single flight on the way back. However, once I’m settled in, there’s alot of time to read, or even work if there’s no one sitting beside me. Can’t work on a 17″ laptop without bumping into the next seat.
Posted in ux
