The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Best idea I had for Christmas this year: giving a new, family-size do-nabe to the E-i-C.

Mmm, nabemono.  Just the thing for a cold, windy evening.  And the E-i-C does the new pot justice with fantastic "wild chicken" meatballs.  She was so inspired that she went out and got a tabletop butane grill!  Can you say yakisoba?

I raked in some goodies myself.  Top of the list is the beer-of-the-month club subscription from the E-i-C.  Of a slightly less ephemeral nature are a pair of beautiful handmade bento boxes.  I am looking forward to bringing them to work, full of tasty goodness!

The Last Bastion Falls

Saturday I was Christmas shopping at BevMo. On the PA they were playing holiday music, as one might expect. What I didn't expect was a rendition of "Here we come a-wassailing" politically-corrected as "Here we come a-carolling...."

At BevMo! O, the irony!

Journalism at Its Best

If you, like me, like to keep abreast of current trends in computing, networking, and other technology, you may be on the lookout for a decent media outlet for such stories. Most tech news, though, writes either for the general consumer (focusing on gadgets, consumer software, web sites, and 'cool' stuff) or for the business and stock trading audience (focusing on tech companies' press releases, corporate buyouts, and executive success stories). Precious few are really geared toward telling you what's new in tech, and most of those are niche publications specializing in one small industry or product.

Enter The Register. This UK online tech news site has interesting, useful news articles. And the writing is not only easy to understand, it's also tongue-in-cheek in the classic British style. They opine upon the subjects of the articles, the public's reaction to them, and even the way the mainstream media reports on them.

For your perusal, I submit the following examples.

S Korea joins hunt for stuff with frikkin' laser beams on it
Santa putting children's information at risk, warn experts

It's tabloid journalism for geeks.

Green Taxes in SF

This is fantastic:

Newsom proposes carbon tax

The Mayor is going about this in exactly the right way: taxing something we don't want - energy usage - and linking it to a reduction in taxes on something we do want - payroll. Increasing taxes on utilities will encourage businesses to reduce the amount of energy they use. Reducing taxes on payroll will allow businesses to hire more employees and/or increase employees' pay.

I am so voting for this.

I can't make this up.

Put this on your shopping list for all your favorite guys this holiday season:
Brooks Brothers Wool Flannel 4-Plaid Fun Pant.
The photo in the print catalog is fantastic. The model has this incredulous smile on his face, like, "Are you seriously expecting to sell these!?"
Fun. Pant.
I think that says it all.

Katsu FTW!

Today I had an interview for a new position at my current place of work. In preparation for this, the E-i-C offered to make katsu for me. This is a bit of a light-hearted tradition in Japan; students often eat katsu the evening before exams, for instance. This is because "katsu" is a homophone for the verb that means "I (will) win." Alas, we had company the night before my interview, so we decided to have it the evening after - reasoning that I wouldn't know the results yet anyway. This turned out to be somewhat incorrect, as my boss stopped by my cube about two hours after the interview to tell me that I was the choice for the position [our organization is in the beginning stages of a hiring freeze, though, so it's questionable whether the position will be able to be filled at all].

Katsudon never tasted so good. Mmmmm, katsudon. And just in time for the holidays!