Not A Dollarshort

New Year Wrapping

We never ever do anything on New Year's Eve because, well, I don't know why. It used to be because I never liked having to drive when there are so many nuts on the road. But now that we've lived in San Francisco for almost two years, that's not really an excuse. Maybe it's because we don't live near the sort of close friends you want to ring the new year in with -- maybe it's just because Ben and I are way too antisocial for our own good.

When I was young I was told that the sort of mood you are in when the clock strikes twelve will determine how you'll feel the rest of the year. Perhaps my usual sadness on New Year's Eve explains why someone recently told me that I remind them of the Zoloft mascot, that little blob of gloom.

So, I'm blue and Zoloft blobish because I'm sad to see 2003 end. It's been an amazingly interesting year and perhaps the hardest of my life. I believe I've done more learning this year than I did during the past eight years combined. Starting a business, launching a online service and keeping one's sanity is pretty darn difficult but also incredibly rewarding. In the process, I also feel like like I've aged ten years. I'm still waiting for that carefree vacation we promised ourselves right before we launched Movable Type.

I can't leave this year without a brief wrap-up of the highlights (both personal and media-related):

The Samsung E715

Ever since I bought my new mobile phone -- a Samsung E715 -- about two months ago I've been meaning to write a post about how much I absolutely adore the thing. The biggest con is that it, like most (all?) Samsung phones is not Bluetooth enabled. Also, it's only dual band. The lack of Bluetooth support wasn't that big a deal for me until I saw this device and thought it was pretty darn cool. See it in action here and here.

So, back to the phone.

It takes pretty good black and white photos and decent color ones. And, there is a really cool multi-shot mode that allows you to take rapid fire photos (6, 9 or 15 shots at a time). There's a "flash" which is more like a little glowing light and there is the ability to digitally zoom into your shots. Additionally, one has the ability to take shots with the camera closed. It's being advertised in Europe (not sure if there are ads here) as the sort of function that allows you to take self-portraits -- an odd little sell.

What I like most about the camera is its svelte shape. It's small, but not too small and the keypad has been improved (in comparison to Ben's phone, the Samsung v205). My last phone, a Sony Ericsson T300, was too small and I never was able to get used to the keypad. And since I never remembered to lock the thing, I was constantly calling random numbers. I've decided that after the E715, I'm a flip phone fan.

So, if you're in the market for a new cell phone, definitely check this one out.

Point / Counterpoint

The current bane of my existence? Ersatz Andy Rooneys who can't understand that, yes, we may know fundamentally how a story ends but we don't want to hear the details that lead to that point.

I'll admit it, I'm one of the spoiler queens he speaks about. For the three years since The Fellowship of the Ring came out, I've made a determined effort to cover my ears whenever the subject of the books and movies was brought up. When the first movie came out, I had absolutely no interest in reading the books or even seeing the movie. Ben was the rabid Tolkien fan in our family and I was a reluctant participant. However, after seeing the first movie, I became immersed in the world. I made a decision to not read the books because I figured that not knowing what happens would make the films even more enjoyable.

For the past two years, I haven't read articles about the movies, haven't watched the trailers and haven't read the books (I began to read The Two Towers but decided to stop when the plots didn't quite match).

For the most part, when I saw The Return of the King on opening day, I was completely surprised.

Snowbird

Right around the time Ben and I started dating (this is around February 1995), he had taped an episode of Saturday Night Live featuring a Bruce McCulloch short film called Snowbird. Shortly after he had loaned it to me, it disappeared. Whether my dad taped over it or I lost it or I still have it in a mislabeled cassette holder is immaterial and not at all a point of contention between Ben and myself. To this day, we haven't been able to locate this tape or another copy of the little film.

So, the other night we were talking again about Snowbird and I figured that in this fine day of Internet miracles, someone must have a copy of this short and, more than likely, has already digitized it.

So, if you're this person, let me know and I'll be forever grateful. Provide me a digitized copy of fine quality and I'll even buy you something off your wishlist or something.

Somewhat related: In my search to find an online version of Snowbird, I found this Bruce McCulloch Rod Stewart comic which made me laugh aloud.

A Day in Mainz

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Europe^* for a short business trip. While there, I stopped in Mainz, Germany -- the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg and the original movable type. Here are a few pictures from the day spent in Mainz walking around its Christmas Market.

^* The other day I was lamenting the fact that, most of the time, I only feel compelled to post to this public weblog after traveling. Not only does it set the bar way too high w/r/t what I find interesting (and what I think others find interesting) but it also makes me fear that I'm going to come off as bragging about my travels. That's certainly not my intention and I'll gladly return to complaining about the boring aspects of my daily life if that is what people really find interesting.

Letter to Santa

This morning, from my dad, I received a scanned copy of one of my old letters to Santa -- this one being from 1981 -- from when I was four years old.

With the exception of the ironing board (I'm a complete slob), I would have to say that my gift requests are pretty indicative of the person I was to become. I particularly like the fact that I was a four year-old girl asking for a computer in 1981. The Tinker Toys became a childhood staple for me and, of course, I have the requisite Disneyana represented.

Tired Eyes

I haven't really had a consistent, good sleeping schedule for a year and am in desperate need for some sort of product that will help reduce the bags/dark circles under my eyes -- not cosmetics or coverup but something actually that would reduce the bags. I've never been a particularly girly girl so I'm not even sure that this sort of thing actually exists (or rather, if it actually works). Any suggestions about a good product to try?

Tempura Dinner

It's great to see Furukawa-san, the CEO of Nifty using their newly launched (it launched on December 2) Cocolog service powered by TypePad to keep his own weblog - it's a testament to his belief in weblogs and TypePad and should be an inspiration for large companies who get involved in the weblogging space.

It was especially great to see this post appear on his own weblog yesterday because it reminded me that I wanted to write about the tempura dinner that we experienced while in Tokyo.

Imagine a two hour tempura meal that doesn't weigh you down or make you cringe at the sight of battered anything. The restaurant, which will remain nameless since I never caught it, was the polar opposite of probably most every place I have ever eaten tempura in the United States. The batter was light, the oil was fresh, the selection varied from fish spine tempura (like a potato chip) to the freshest shrimp ever. I'm no Jeffrey Steingarten so I fear that my review of the evening doesn't illustrate what a fine meal we had.

Oh, and it was the first time that I ever had warm sake; I must say it was certainly a eye-opening experience. Regardless, it was a dinner I will not soon forget.

Below are a couple pictures from the night.