Caffeine

Alec blogs about the girl who overdosed on seven double espressos, and writes, “Nowadays I have a hard stop, and move to decaf after a max of four singles.” Hmm. My normal breakfast begins with a quad espresso macchiato, which is just over 300 mg. caffeine. I frequently have another quad EM later in the day, and occasionally a caffeinated drink with lunch. ((However I’m surprised to see that one of my regular choices, WhoopAss, only has 50 mg. of caffeine, about the same as a cup of tea.)) And I’ve never knowingly OD’d on caffeine, though I have experienced caffeine withdrawal. Perhaps it’s a function of body weight…

Watched and read

Watched: La Belle Noiseuse (1991). One of the longest films I’ve ever seen (236 minutes), and I loved every moment of it. As one reviewer put it, “it actually feels liberating to watch a film that doesn’t limit itself to a predetermined time constraint.” The tempo here is that of real life, not the urgency of storytelling. The film is an extraordinary investigation of the relationship between artist and model, between subject and object. If a great painter were to capture your essence on canvas, could you handle it?
This is the perfect Netflix film: Few DVD rental places will carry it, I doubt it will ever be shown on cable TV, and having seen it once I don’t want to do so again.
Read: Hugh Laurie’s The Gun Seller. Not quite sure how I missed this when it came out in 1998, but I’m glad I got around to it. Imagine Ian Fleming’s 007 as interpreted by a tag-team of P.G.Wodehouse and Douglas Adams.
I hadn’t realized until I’d finished (at 2am – it’s the kind of book that you can’t put down) that it was published before 9/11. These days, satire has a hard time keeping up with reality, but Laurie’s still ahead. I see that he has a new novel out next month…

Church and state?

Huh?:

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s… State Administration for Religious Affairs

/me shakes head in amazement.

Feminist? Moi?

Blogthings – Are You a Feminist?:

***You Are 98% Feminist***
You are a total feminist. This doesn’t mean you’re a man hater (in fact, you may be a man).
You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It’s a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

Not sure where the 2% went, but never mind.

Blogging from Ignite

Everybody here at Ignite Seattle! seems to hve a Macbook [Pro]. The talks start in ~20 minutes. Conveniently, this place is just around the corner from Elysian Fields…
[LATER] I thought that was an excellent evening. Less time on fun and games, and more (and higher quality) talks. My favourites:

  • Sheer fun: Scotto Moore on Make Art Not Content ((Small world department: Scotto (Leri) says “hi” to Spivey, and admires what you’re doing.))
  • Essentials of business: Dave McClure on Startup Metrics for Pirates: AARRR!
  • Prognostication: Beth Goza on Is 2008 the year the “Third Screen” takes center stage?
  • Just do it: Brian Dorsey on An embarrassment of riches – the story of Noonhat
  • The bigger picture: George Conard on Mifos: Open Source Software for Microfinance ((Hint: when you’re living on a dollar a day, you don’t care if your microfinance provider uses OSS.))

But they were all good. The next one is in October: I’m planning to be there. (There were a few Amazonians there tonight: more next time.)

Amazonians, Mount Si, Blue Angels, and shopping

I just had a really great Seattle weekend. Mount SiYesterday was the Amazon.com summer picnic, which was held at Mountain Meadows Farm in North Bend, about half an hour east of here. The picnic was lots of fun – it was nice to meet colleagues away from work – but the big attraction for me was the location: at the foot of Mount Si. As you can see from the pictures, it’s a very photogenic mountain.
Of course, being in North Bend meant that I wasn’t here in Seattle for the Seafair events. Fat Albert, the Blue Angels C-130But never mind: the Blue Angels were scheduled to perform on both Saturday and Sunday. Rather than trying to get to the shore of Lake Washington, I decided to watch from the 12th Avenue viaduct across I-90, just below the PacMed building where I work. It’s a great location, with photo opportunities limited only by the overhead wires for the trolleybuses that run up Beacon Hill. The first few photos show the Patriots aerobatic team, then “Fat Albert” ((the Blue Angels’ C-130 support aircraft)) made an appearance, and then the Blue Angels did their thing for about 45 minutes.
When the show was over, I headed downtown, intending to do a little domestic shopping. When I moved here a year ago, I bought so many things in such a short time that inevitably I made a few mistakes. Most of my household items came from IKEA, and in several areas I opted for convenience (and low price) rather than quality. And quality matters. So today I picked up some really good kitchen knives ((though not ceramic – I’m still a little hesitant about that technology)), and a couple of really thick bath sheets, and some Bodum double-wall glasses. Oh yes, and a decent cocktail shaker – because even though I’m living above a store that sells a hundred different varieties of sake, there are times when a martini is the right choice.
Regina Spektor: Begin To HopeAnd finally, I stepped into a bookshop (yes, I know…) to pick up a magazine, and I heard some strangely compelling music being played. I asked who it was, and the saleswoman said “Regina Spektor”, with the eager smile that people have when they are glad to have shared a favourite. So I decided to treat myself, and bought a copy of the album (“Begin Hope”).