Steve's Notebook Blog

For the second time this winter, the Washington D.C. area got over two feet of snow.  While I don’t think this storm beat the Knickerbocker Storm of 1922, the winter of 2009-2010 should go down in history as the snowiest winter ever in Washington D.C..  The snow from this storm fell on top of about 2 inches that was already on the ground, and more snow is predicted for this coming week.

Here’s my dog dwarfed by the snow in the backyard:

and three feet of snow piled onto the deck:

my car is somewhere in this picture:

oh, there it is… I guess the tires gave it away:

Well, at least I gave Internet Explorer 8 a chance.

After 2 months living as a Microsoft fanboy, I’m going back to using Google Chrome as my default web browser.  Microsoft Internet Explorer is simply way too bloated with all of Microsoft’s proprietary “features”.  While some of the features of IE 8 looked possibly useful, they were also distracting.  Microsoft is simply trying too hard to keep their client software relevant, when people today want everything to be hosted, like the way Google does things.

I’ve also used Firefox for a couple years, but even that was starting to feel clunky.  Don’t get me wrong — Firefox is a great web browser and I’m sure many people would prefer it over Chrome because of its customizability, but Chrome just has a more simple and streamlined interface that doesn’t distract users from the web pages they’re browsing.

Ultimately, it’s all about the user experience when browsing.  Web browsers have come a long way and every one of the major web browsers are pretty good at what they do, but each one presents the web with a different frame.  For me, I really like the speed and undistracting simplicity of Chrome.

You know, Google is going to take over the world…

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything here so far this year!

Well, the Washington D.C. area is about to get dumped on by the second blizzard of the season, so I’ll probably post some more snow pictures here this weekend.  We’re expecting about 2 feet this time, adding on to the 2 inches that’s still on the ground from last weekend’s snow storm.

Remember that movie, The Day After Tomorrow?

Yep, that’s exactly what this area will look like the day after tomorrow.

For the biggest renovation we’ve done to the house yet, we got rid of the ugly drafty old door and had a new door installed.  The new door opens on both sides and has blinds inside the glass.  The kitchen now looks much brighter.

Albert Pujols is probably the best baseball player of the decade who hasn’t been tainted by scandals. Check out my new Albert Pujols collection.

In the Washington D.C. area we don’t get too many opportunities to put snow to good use, so I had to try this…

It’s a bottle of Gewürztraminer chilling in the snow just outside the kitchen door, awaiting tonight’s dinner.

She smiles a lot now!

…but is still totally helpless as we give her a mohawk

Spent a couple hours digging out of 2 feet of snow today.  Luckily it was the dry powdery stuff that isn’t too hard to move.

Maybe I’ll clear the deck tomorrow if I have another couple hours to spare…

The local news is billing this as one of the biggest snowstorms ever to hit the Washington D.C. area.  Awesome!

It’s already getting quite ridiculous outside, and the snow is still coming down.  Take a look at what happens when I open the door to the deck:

If we can’t get to the deck from the kitchen, how about going up the stairs?

I better enjoy the snow now, because I’ll be shovelling it tomorrow!

by 2 feet of snow!

There are no drivers for the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT camera in Windows 7 64-bit.  However, if you own one there is a quick fix.

All you have to do is change the camera’s Communication setting from “PC Connection” to “Print/PTP“.  I found the solution here.

We had a break in tradition this Thanksgiving.  Instead of making the 3-hour drive down to my parents’ home, we stayed close to home and went out to a restaurant.  We figured it would be better for the baby that way.

Honestly, none of us really like roasted turkey, so for our Thanksgiving celebration venue we decided on the non-stop Brazilian-style meat-fest that is called Chima.  They did a good job at making Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant still feel special (they even had turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce).  While we didn’t get to spend Thanksgiving with all the family this year, I’m at least thankful that we got to spend a first Thanksgiving with our healthy, beautiful, and clever baby girl.  As you can see, she was the guest of honor tonight sitting at the head of the table.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  Let the Christmas shopping madness begin

Tyson’s Corner Center has a new rotating sushi bar called “Wasabi”.  I haven’t seen one of these in the US before.  I’ll have to try it next time I visit the mall.

It’s been nice outside… time to shake off the cabin fever!

There’s a new Internet meme going around, and it is called “Prairie Dog Rapture”.  If you just look at the awesome ridiculousness of the painting, you will see why everyone loves it.

Although people call it “Prairie Dog Rapture”, the real name for the painting is “Praising Prairie Dogs”.  It was a painting done as part of artist Anthony Falbo’s Light & Dark series.  I for one wouldn’t mind having this hanging on my wall

Microsoft Windows XP did its job so well that many people, including me, completely skipped out on the Windows Vista bandwagon. However, Windows XP is an 8-year-old operating system that’s due for a serious upgrade. So is Windows 7 the next operating system for you? I recently bought a copy of Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium and spent a week exploring it. 

Read on…

It’s been over 6 years since I upgraded my computer from Windows 98 to Windows XP.  Last night I finally upgraded my aging computer equipment and installed a clean copy of Windows 7 onto it.  So far it’s been running very well and I’m actually excited to turn on my computer each time and learn more about it.

Knowing from previous experience that installing new operating systems on old equipment can lead to frustrating and time-consuming problems, the first thing I did was upgrade my hardware.  This is what I ended up buying and installing:

• GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AMD Motherboard
• AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz quad-core processor
• G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory
• EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit PCI-Express 2.0 graphics card
• CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750-watt Power Supply

What does all that mean?

Well, my old computer ran at 2.0 GHz (single-core), had 1 GB RAM, and 128 MB video memory.  The new computer runs at 3.0 GHz (with 4 cores), has 4 GB of RAM, and 512 MB of video memory.  It’s ready to handle whatever sweet graphics Diablo III throws at it!

The other neat thing is that I installed the 64-bit version of Windows 7.  Most people today are running 32-bit Windows XP.  The difference between 64 and 32 bit is that your computer can efficiently address more memory, meaning all the caps on the computer’s memory are pretty much removed for the foreseeable future.  Windows XP can’t handle more than 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of disk space per partition.  With a fully 64-bit operating system, I’m free to increase my RAM to an insane 16 GB and keep my 250 GB hard disk unpartitioned.

Now I can’t wait to try some graphics-intensive games!

Last Thursday, we got a new addition to the family.  It was a daughter, and she is our first child.  I’m sure that her arrival has changed everything — from my daily habits, to my priorities in life, and even towards how I write my blog entries.  I think every father naturally has an instinct to protect his family, so I will only refer to my baby daughter on this public blog by her first name.

Her name is Arwen.

Now if you’re thinking “Arwen Undómiel, youngest daughter of Elrond and Celebrían”, then you my friend am a fellow geek.  While the most famous Arwen lived among the mythical Elves of Lindon in a fantasy realm created by J.R.R. Tolkien, the name is more mundanely an old Welsh name meaning “muse”.  Anyone unfamiliar with the works of Tolkien (read: non-geeks) will obviously not make the connection with Lord of the Rings.

Now I do admit that we chose the name not because of its Welsh origins, but more because we are fans of Lord of the Rings.  However, it’s a fitting name for our daughter even in that context.  The Arwen of Lord of the Rings was the daughter of Elrond Half-Elven and the elf Celebrían.  That makes her three quarters Elven.  Likewise, baby Arwen is three quarters Taiwanese.  Also, what girl wouldn’t want the image of Liv Tyler from the movie to come to mind whenever someone mentions her name?

Here is baby Arwen, and someday she will be more famous than Liv Tyler:

babyworld is an excellent baby resource based in the UK.  I tried out several of the pregnancy recipes on the site and they are great even if you’re not cooking for a pregnant wife!  Here are some dishes that made it to the dinner table this week:

Cherry Tomato-Topped Chicken

I couldn’t believe how beautifully this dish came out.  It’s very easy to make and looks nice when you plate it.  I rate this recipe 9/10.

Fennel and Almond Soup

Not much color, but tastes good!  I’ll rate it 8/10.

Fish Brochette with Coconut Dressing and Apricot and Ginger Risotto

I didn’t care for either recipe here.  The fish brochette has nice flavor, but it seemed like too much trouble skewering everything and grilling it when a quick stir-fry with the marinade would have been sufficient.  3/10 for the fish brochette.

The risotto tasted okay, but it’s a stretch to call it risotto.  Risotto is supposed to have a starchy rice and parmesan cheese.  This recipe calls for neither.  5/10, and don’t call it risotto.

Oozing Chocolate Lava Cake

Okay, this one is not from babyworld, but pregnant women get strange cravings sometimes…

We didn’t have any ramekins, so it doesn’t look pretty.  It did however taste like chocolatey heaven.  8/10

Photo from http://imgrr.com/x/dogburglar.jpg

- A really nerdy music video of Carl Sagan featuring Stephen Hawking, with massive autotune.  Pretty good work.

- New Super Mario Bros. game is coming out in November for Wii… and this one has 4-player cooperative play!

- The real Dracula was really messed up.

- The Detroit Lions won their first game since December 2007.  Of course, they did it by beating Washington.

It was a battle between the best team in the league and the worst team in the league.  Last night however, Goliath won.  Not only did Goliath give David a sound thrashing, but he also beat him with a baseball bat while he was down.  It was kind of painful to watch, as the Washington Nationals were defeated on their home field 14-2.  And I was there…

It seemed like most of the audience consisted of Los Angeles Dodgers fans.  It’s a long way from California, so they were here looking for a dramatic display of power, and that’s exactly what they got.  The Dodgers scored 7 runs in the 4th inning and 6 in the 7th.  I stopped keeping count of their runs after the 4th inning.

The Nationals were already eliminated from playoff contention a few weeks ago, so I was at the game mainly to see the Dodgers in person before they go into the playoffs.  The Adam Dunn home run, coupled with the fireworks display that followed, was an awesome experience.  It was also pretty cool to see Chin-Lung Hu (胡金龍), the first Taiwanese infielder ever to play in the Major Leagues, make a plate appearance (and strike out).  Future Hall of Fame contender and 500-HR clubber Jim Thome also made a surprise appearance (and grounded out).  Then of course, there was Manny Being Manny, who drew boos at every plate appearance.

The box score for the game can be found here.  As I write this, the Nationals and Dodgers are playing game 2 of their 3-game series at Nationals Park and the score is tied 3-3 in the 8th inning.  Whether the Nationals win or lose tonight, I’ll look forward to seeing the Dodgers play in the playoffs next month on TV.

We found this place called “Hot Bakes N’ Cakes” in Springfield, VA a few weeks ago and went back last night for a second visit.  You wouldn’t be able to tell from the name, but it’s actually an Indian restaurant.  Indian/French fusion that is…

One half of the restaurant is a typical looking French bakery, while the other half is an Indian restaurant that seems to me (as a non-Indian) to be more authentic than most Indian restaurants in America.  I say this because almost all of their customers and staff are Indian, and they serve dishes that I’ve never seen or heard of before at other Indian restaurants.

For dinner last night, I had one of their Indo-European fusion dishes – a Chicken Tikka Panini sandwich.  It was interesting and good, but a little dry for my tastes.

For an appetizer, we tried the Bhel Puri, which we never heard of before until we saw it on the menu last night and ordered it.  What came to the table was completely unexpected, but tasted good:

Apparently, Bhelpuri is a popular dish sold by street vendors in Bombay (er, Mumbai).  It’s basically Rice Crispies stir-fried with potatoes and tamarind sauce and is best consumed as soon as it’s prepared.  If that sounds interesting, read more about it at Wikipedia, then look for it at your local Indian restaurant.

image from http://imgur.com/9IxvJ.jpg

• You might get high from snorting cash
• TomTom might have the killer app for iPhone
• The movie District 9 looks awesome
• An additional $40 million was tacked onto a $200 million verdict against Microsoft because Microsoft’s lawyers were being smart-asses
• How the Japanese view American police officers
• Eating like an American police officer makes you forgetful and overweight
• Wanna see my babby?
• Angry parking note
• Remember the early 90’s? ::shudder::

Interesting things I found around the Web today:

• Image above from from http://www.imageonto.com/picture/53a35cz709t548
• Resize My Photos helps you batch resize your image files quickly and easily
• Tips for restocking your bar for under $100
• The amount of sleep you need might be genetically hard-wired
• Hundreds of people are feared dead from mudslides in Taiwan
• Check out this blog about the crimes of the thugs and criminals who play in the NFL.  It’s shocking and interesting at the same time!

I haven’t been posting here as often as I should, so let’s try something new.  I scour the Web each day really quick so I don’t fall behind on technology.  Here are the things today that caught my interest:

• Google Street View goes beyond what you would expect
• Guitar legend Les Paul has died at the age of 94
• Google is testing out a new search architecture that should yield better search results
• Michael Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles
• Heard on NPR that a lot of the angst, shouting, and heckling you hear going on at the Town Hall Meetings for health care reform is part of an organized protest and doesn’t really represent the public’s views

Hopefully there’ll be another post tomorrow…

Anyone who has ever collected baseball cards might find today’s news interesting.  Topps is now the last baseball card company left producing official baseball cards.

Pinnacle went bankrupt in 1998.  Pacific exited the market in 2001.  Fleer went bankrupt in 2005.  Donruss lost its license in 2006.  And now Upper Deck has lost its license also.  That leaves only Topps, which has been producing baseball cards since the 1950s.

Good thing I only collect Topps.

For the past couple years, the Topps Company has issued a code-breaking challenge to baseball card collectors.  The code takes the form of special code cards inserted randomly into packs of their Allen & Ginter brand baseball cards.  Last year’s winner was Jason Wong of Maryland.  The grand prize for cracking the code was to be featured on a baseball card on the following year.

Well, Jason’s card is in this year’s set, and less than a month after 2009 Allen & Ginter was released, this year’s code was also cracked.  This year, Nick Jacoby and Mike Gellner worked together to crack the code.  They have posted the solution online and it’s an interesting read.

Today is the final day of our tour of the Pacific Northwest.  We decided to spend today in Seattle.  The Space Needle going south from the north of Seattle:

A giant pig serving up BBQ.  We originally thought it was an elephant.  The food is allegedly awesome, but it drove away before we could get a taste.

A second visit to Pike Place Market, this time during business hours:

We got some fresh fruit in the market because it looked so delicious.  Washington is famous for its apples and raspberries:

It was crowded in the early afternoon.  We did get to see the famous “flying fish” of Pike Place.  When someone orders a fish, the guys would shout out the order and someone would throw the fish to the counter:

I think this place was called Beecher’s Cheese.  They have glass panes allowing us to watch them make cheese:

Piroshky Piroshky is a Russian bakery that was so good that we bought from them three times.  I also bought a coffee at the original Starbucks store and had chowder at the local favorite Pike Place Chowder.

After lunch we walked down to Pioneer Square and took the Sub Seattle Bus Tour.  The tour was a bit overpriced, but was very enjoyable.

The gate to Chinatown:

Seattle as viewed from a vista point:

Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 today:

Mount Rainier was not visible today, so our bus driver helped us with the view:

Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana are credited for starting the grunge rock scene in the 90’s.  When Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994, this park area outside of his home became a Mecca for grunge rock fans:

And Kurt Cobain’s home:

This sculpture is called “Black Hole Sun”.  You can see the Space Needle through the center of the sculpture.  It is believed to have inspired another Seattle 90’s band, Soundgarden, to write the song “Black Hole Sun”:

And finally, another famous Seattle musician has a sculpture in downtown Seattle, Jimi Hendrix:

That wraps up our 12-day vacation.  While we grew kind of tired of San Francisco after 3 days, there is still a lot left to do in Seattle.  I hope to have another chance to come to Seattle in the future.  We will begin our journey home to Alexandria in a few hours.

Today we went on a whale watching expedition aboard the Western Prince II departing from Friday Harbor of San Juan Island.  To get to Friday Harbor, we had to take the ferry out of Anacortes, WA.  The ferry boats are unbelievably huge, with 2 decks for cars and two decks for passengers that look more like airport terminals.  The ferry boat even includes a cafeteria.

Crowds of people wait for the ferry to dock so they can walk off to Friday Harbor.  Looks kind of like the beginning of a marathon:

From the Western Prince II, the first wildlife sighting was of porpoises.  Then we saw a bald eagle.

Then we found all three pods of orcas swimming to meet each other to form what they call a “superpod”.  The guides told us that this only happens about 2 or 3 times a year, so we were very lucky to see this today.

It’s hard to capture the moments when the whales come above water, so the photos are very limited.  You kind of have to be there to know how awesome it is.  We saw some whales breach completely out of the water or slap the water with their tail fins.  The captain also turned on the underwater mic so that we could hear the whales talking.  It was an amazing experience.

We briefly crossed into Canadian waters, so we had to turn off all the cell phones to prevent insane roaming charges.  There were also two fellas with us from The World cruise ship, which happened to be off the coast of the San Juan Islands.  The World is a residential cruise ship for really rich people.  Basically, you pay $2 million for a room on the ship and you can live there as it sails all around the world.