John Yaya

This isn't a new thing, but I've been using it more recently and think it is a pretty valuable service and a great idea. Linked In allows you to keep track of professional contacts and use them to make other contacts at companies where you might not think you know anyone. It often turns out that you have a friend of a friend who does, and this system allows you to take advantage of that. It's a great way to find a job, recruit for an open position, or make other business inquiries that might otherwise need to be a cold call.

Perhaps it is because of my stint in TV news, or maybe this is interesting to everyone, but I thought these two posts from BoingBoing were very entertaining, but also very uncomfortable. Both clips are must-see in my book.

• World's most obnoxious weatherman
• Another rotten weatherman

It's hard to believe they are real, but I belive it.

HowStuffWorks.com is a fun site to visit if you have a few minutes to kill and want to learn something new. The site has some annoying features, such as opening all the story links in new windows, but that's balanced out by the good info -- and it's fun like grade-school science class was.

We bought a house! We are pretty excited about it.

Here are some of the photos that were on the real estate site, which is no longer available.

We close on 2/25 so we should be moving in early March.

Woo hoo!

In the Web business it is often said that "content is king." In other words, it doesn't matter how good your Web site looks or works if there is no good information on it. While I still believe that is true, this essay makes a good argument that that type of thinking is out of date.

"The Internet is primarily a tool for person-to-person communication. But policymakers, investors, and telecommunications companies have too often fallen for the plausible slogan that 'content is king.' What systems and equipment providers as well as service providers in this area should worry about is giving people what they really want, which is to be connected to other people."

That's true! (And that's hard thing for a Web Content Manager to say.)

We are putting in an offer on another house tonight and I'm completely distracted by it. I cannot stand not knowing if we will get the house. (It's the house from my earlier post.) We had a pre-inspection today and also talked to a neighbor and things are looking good. Crossing my fingers...

I didn't think this was a film that should ever be remade until I saw this preview. Wow! I can't wait! It comes out in July.

I heard this fun story on NPR today about a very fast, very old, propeller-driven, crazy German train. It was built in 1931 but held a speed record until just last year.

For those who oppose the war in Iraq:

Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20, 2005 is being proclaimed "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.

Here's how it works:
On Not One Damn Dime Day, those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending. During Not One Damn Dime Day please don't spend any money.

Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases in person or online or by credit card. Not one damn dime for anything for 24 hours.

On Not One Damn Dime Day, please boycott Walmart, KMart and Target. Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter). For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut down the retail economy. The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it.

Not One Damn Dime Day is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into the coffers of US politicians.

Not One Damn Dime Day is about supporting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now more than 1,200 brave young Americans and some estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan -- a way to come home.

There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left- or right-wing agenda to rant about. On Not One Damn Dime Day you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.

Please share this message with as many people as possible. Thank you.

I've had another setback with my project to take a photograph of an item on my desk every day. My boss left town and he took the camera I have been using with him. I brought in my own camera, but I have no way to upload the photos to my computer here. Plus, my Flickr limit is at about 90% for this month. I may need to rethink my project... it's kind of silly anyway. Worth the trouble? I've found myself looking forward to it each day so it is tempting to find a way to keep going.

This book was really engaging, believable and touching. It was also a quick read and featured the kind of simple language and focus on characters that I love. I recommend it.

I'm crossing my fingers that we will get this one. It is a little further out of the city than we would have liked (Way up off Lake City Way, almost to the city limits), but that means we get a bigger yard and way more house for our money. This place is cute as a button and seems sure to attract competition, but perhaps the distant northern location will work in our favor in that regard. The only other down side for me is that there is no garage or carport. But I guess we can build one, or just get used to parking outside and using a car cover for the VW.

We will present our offer on Thursday night and should know if we got it that night.

I've decided to move my blog to my own server. So, please visit www.johnherb.net/blog for the continuation of this blog.

I am messing around with some of the advanced settings with Blogger this week, as well as looking in to easy ways to take advantage of RSS and ATOM syndication. (By the way, if anyone knows why ATOM is called ATOM, please let me know.)

I am now using the ftp feature in Blogger to post all files directly to my Web site -- www.johnherb.net/blog. I think that's kind of cool. I'm also starting to look at the template more carefully to see how much I can customize. I think I may be outgrowing Blogger at this point and might wat to start using Movable Type or TypePad so I can get more control. Apparently Blogger no longer offers a pro version unless I'm missing something here.

I also found this nifty utility that makes it very easy to take an RSS or ATOM feed and display it on a Web site. I'm using it on my brother's site to display his blog postings. There are a bunch of free PHP utilities that do the same thing, but so far I haven't found one that supports ATOM, just RSS. Just one more reason to move to Movable Type so I can get RSS support.

On the photo front, I have already used up 86% of my monthly Flickr upload limit (and it's only the 14th!), so I may need to get a pro account there, too, just to support my habit.

What can I say? It's keeping me entertained.

There's shit in your hamburger! What else can I say? Really, this book by Eric Schlosser was an excellent read that made me think far beyond the boundaries I had expected. The fast food industry has had a profound effect on our entire food supply system, agriculture, nation's health, workers' rights, and all aspects of the world economy. It was an eye opener and a fun read. Check it out.

If you have an interest in environmental issues or history you should find this book interesting. The book is about dam construction and water projects in the American West but really ends up examining modern America through a water management viewpoint. You may not think you would be interested in water management, but this book helps show how it is relevant in relation to many other issues. (It also ties in well with Fast Food Nation, which I also read recently. They make a good pair of books.)

(Note: Sadly, I read that Marc Reisner died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 51.)

Senator Barbara Boxer, (D) Calif., plans to ask Condoleeza Rice some tough questions rather than rubber-stamping her appointment as Secretary of State when she appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You can sign a petition on her Web site to lend your support.

She promises to ask things like:

• Why did the United States go to war in Iraq based on misleading -- if not false and fraudulent -- evidence?
  
• Why did we divert valuable resources and intelligence personnel to Iraq, taking them away from Afghanistan and the pursuit of Osama bin Laden?
  
• Why did you mislead the American people into thinking there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida before September 11th?

(Boxer is also a champion of electoral reform. She was the lone senator to support the challenge of the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election results by a group of congressmen from Ohio.)

I had a really bad customer service experience with Yahoo recently and want to spread the word. I used to think they were an OK company and now I am dead set against using them for anything ever again.

They billed me $35 for services that I had already cancelled, and now refuse to refund the payment (which they took by direct withdrawal). When I called to complain, I had to do the old "may I speak with your supervisor?" thing. I was patched right through, but then the supervisor was confrontational, unapologetic, and HUNG UP ON ME. Lame.

I'll find a way to get (more than) even eventually, though. Down with Yahoo!

We are all excited today -- putting in an offer on a homely little 1940s house in Ballard. We did an inspection this morning so we can make a stronger offer by waiving the inspection contingency. It came through with flying colors. Only drawback is... well, look at the picture. It's no looker on the outside, but inside it is sweet. Sounds like a 50/50 chance that we will get it since we aren't willing to overpay by too much and the market is crazy right now.

My friend Oliver has some great theories of corporate survival. I was surprised to hear many of the tenets of his philosophy on NPR today. This story is dead on. If you are working in a large organization, or if you ever have or ever will, you should listen to this.

Sadly -- or should I say happily? -- I am failing miserably at being a "Middle Man."

OK, this will be my last NetFlix post for a while, I promise, but I did want to mention the cool new features they launched this past week -- Friends and Profiles. The Friends feature lets you share recommendations and see the lists of movies your friends hated (they have to be using NetFlix, too). It doesn't allow personal reviews or anything, but it is no effort to keep up either so it seems like they did a good job with it. Profiles allows you to have multiple queues for a single account. That's a great idea, though we won't likely use it since we usually watch our moves together. I think they will need to keep adding cool stuff like this to stave off Blockbuster and Amazon this year. Frankly I don't know if they can survive in the long term, but I'm rooting for them and will stick with them.

These are some of the DVDs I enjoyed most in 2004.

Documentaries
Super Size Me: This meant even more to me since I am working for a foodservice distributor, but everyone should watch it. Warning: You will never get the theme song out of your head.

Spellbound: So touching and riveting. Just amazing how well it captured some amazing (and some annoying) kids.

Fahrenheit 9/11: Michael Moore -- Love him or hate him, his movies are still worth watching. I happen to agree with him 95% of the time but think he is annoying and discredits himself by being such as self-promoter. But he's so right ON. And entertaining, to boot.

OT: Our Town: Similar to Spellbound in showing you a slice of life. You really come to car about this group of Compton high school kids and are scared to death they might fail as they try to stage the first play at their school in 20 years. Not to be missed. It's even better if you go see a real production of Our Town first, like we did.

TV
The Sopranos: Seasons 1-4. Loved it. LOVED IT. I am so hooked.

The Office Seasons 1 & 2 and the Office Special: Loved season one, liked season two, and really, really loved the special.

24: Season 1: I am thoroughly hooked on this thoroughly stupid show. I loved season one despite the stupid parts, and have not enjoyed the other seasons nearly as much but can't stop watching.

Features
In America: Thinking back, this is about the best movie I saw all year.

The Godfather, Parts I & II: When I got hooked on the Sopranos I decided it was time to sit down and finally watch these classics. I was not disappointed... until I got to Part III.

Big Fish: Though this one didn't totally catch for me as I watched it, I enjoued it then and nowI find that I think of it often. It has grown on me.

Donnie Darko: I had heard this was good and it was. Enough said.

Frida: A bit long, but a really engaging look at someone who I previously knew nothing about. Most of all, this movie was beautiful.

Cold Mountain: I didn't enjoy watching how miserable people can be to other people, but I have to admit they did a great job with it. It was right up there with Gone With the Wind in my book.

Animated
The Triplets of Belleville: Fun, witty and beautiful, with music you will never forget, even if you want to. (Note: Sometimes I think the French just don't like Americans.)

Finding Nemo: Cute, fun and pretty.

Well, I didn't exactly go without email, thanks to my Gmail account, but I did have to do without my usual email address for a whole week while I bungled my DNS transfer. But I'm finally set back up and running and celebrating the simple things in life -- like being able to send and receive email from my usual account again.

For those who don't know, I love NetFlix. You should try it. It's kind of embarrassing to look back at all the movies I rented last year, but fun, too. 123 movies in 2004! That's about one movie every three days. If I figure it at $20/month (the price fluctuated last year but was always around $20/mo.) it comes out to $1.95 per DVD. Here's the complete list. Tomorrow I'll pick my favorites.


2004: The Year in NetFflix
*** 24: Season 3: Disc 4 (2003)
**** Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
***** Cold Mountain (2003)
***** OT: Our Town (2002)
*** 24: Season 3: Disc 3 (2003)
**** Elf (2003)
**** Shrek (Full-screen) (2001)
***** Donnie Darko (2001)
**** Old School (2003)
**** Starsky & Hutch (2004)
**** The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
*** 24: Season 3: Disc 2 (2003)
*** 24: Season 3: Disc 1 (2003)
*** Six Feet Under: Season 1: Disc 2 (2001)
*** The Terminal (2004)
*** The Stepford Wives (2004)
**** Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
***** The Office Special (2001)
*** Control Room (2004)
*** Saved! (2004)
**** Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
*** The Ladykillers (2004)
*** The Godfather, Part III (1990)
**** Grown Ups (1980)
**** 1940s House (2001)
*** Six Feet Under: Season 1: Disc 1 (2001)
**** It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
**** Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)
*** Mrs. Dalloway (1997)
***** The Godfather, Part II: Disc 2 (1974)
***** The Godfather, Part II (1974)
*** Hidalgo (2004)
***** Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
* The Butterfly Effect: Director's Cut (2004)
***** Super Size Me (2004)
*** The Stepford Wives (1975)
** Band of Brothers: Disc 2 (2001)
**** GoodFellas: Special Edition (1990)
*** The Pianist (2002)
*** Band of Brothers: Disc 1 (2001)
**** Network (1976)
* The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
*** Barefoot in the Park (1967)
* Martha, Inc. (2003)
***** The Godfather (1972)
* Continental Divide (1981)
***** The Sopranos: Season 4: Disc 4 (2002)
***** The Sopranos: Season 4: Disc 3 (2002)
**** The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
* The Fast Runner (2002)
***** The Sopranos: Season 4: Disc 2 (2002)
*** Radio Days (1987)
***** The Office: Series 2 (2002)
***** The Sopranos: Season 4: Disc 1 (2002)
*** Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
***** The Sopranos: Season 3: Disc 4 (2001)
***** The Sopranos: Season 3: Disc 3 (2001)
**** Peter Pan (2003)
***** The Office: Series 1 (2001)
***** The Sopranos: Season 3: Disc 2 (2001)
***** The Sopranos: Season 3: Disc 1 (2001)
***** Big Fish (2003)
* Timeline (2003)
***** The Sopranos: Season 2: Disc 4 (2001)
**** Mystic River (2003)
**** To Die For (1995)
***** The Sopranos: Season 2: Disc 3 (2001)
**** Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
***** The Sopranos: Season 2: Disc 2 (2001)
* Osama (2003)
** The Last Samurai (2003)
***** The Sopranos: Season 2: Disc 1 (2000)
***** In America (2002)
***** The Sopranos: Season 1: Disc 4 (1999)
***** The Sopranos: Season 1: Disc 3 (1999)
***** The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
***** The Sopranos: Season 1: Disc 2 (1999)
* Spirited Away (2002)
**** Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
**** House of Sand and Fog (2003)
***** The Sopranos: Season 1: Disc 1 (1999)
* The Opposite of Sex (1998)
*** The Forsyte Saga: Disc 3 (2002)
**** 24: Season 2: Disc 6 (2002)
*** Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
*** 24: Season 2: Disc 5 (2002)
*** The Forsyte Saga: Series 1: Disc 2 (2002)
**** The School of Rock (2003)
**** 24: Season 2: Disc 4 (2002)
**** 24: Season 2: Disc 3 (2002)
*** The Forsyte Saga: Series 1: Disc 1 (2002)
*** Chicago (2002)
**** 24: Season 2: Disc 2 (2002)
**** This Boy's Life (1993)
**** 24: Season 2: Disc 1 (2002)
* Secondhand Lions (2003)
** Runaway Jury (2003)
*** Bob Roberts (1994)
*** Open Range (2003)
** Analyze This (1999)
**** The Hours (2002)
*** Holes (2003)
*** Hell House (2001)
* Sexy Beast (2001)
***** Finding Nemo (Widescreen) (2003)
**** Adaptation (2002)
**** Seabiscuit (2003)
*** In the Cut (2003)
***** Spellbound (2002)
*** Die Another Day (2002)
*** Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
**** Winged Migration (2001)
** Meet John Doe (1941)
** The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
**** How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
*** Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
* Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
* Anger Management (2003)
***** 24: Season 1: Disc 6 (2001)
***** Frida (2002)
***** 24: Season 1: Disc 5 (2001)
*** Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
*** Funny Farm (1988)

While I am unable to find a house to buy here in Seattle, owners of many Frank Lloyd Wright classics in other parts of the country are finding that they are not able to find buyers for their homes.

Shannon posted this on her blog and I think it's pretty neat. You can mark all the places you've been on a pretty map. Everyone should try it. My world map is kind of sparse, and even my US map has a lot of gray areas to try to fill in. I guess I had better plan some trips.

I wonder, though, why do all the places I visit turn red? I thought I was more of a blue state type.

Try it yourself: create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide.

I am still without email today after having royally flubbed up my domain name transfer. I cancelled my services with Yahoo! Domains and was set to transfer to GoDaddy, but I forgot that Network Solutions were the ones who really host my DNS. So now I have to wait for them to release it, which evidently must be *really* hard to do because it takes about a week for them to figure it out.

I'm looking forward to having my email hosting with a new company. Yahoo! had not made any improvements to their Web mail system in several years, and it needed work, and they had spotty reliability. Hopefully GoDaddy will be better. I'm also happy to move away from Network Solutions since I associate them with Heidi's unhappy time working there. I just wish it wasn't taking a whole week.

In the meantime I also have no car while my VW's brakes are being fixed. The year is getting off to a slow start.

We found a pretty good house to buy in the Viewridge neighborhood, above Sandpoint, but were frustrated to not get a chance to make an offer. The owners fired their agent and "de-listed" the house before we could. I guess they think it is worth more than anyone is offering. We wrote a letter to the owners anyway but there is little hope that they will respond.

The house was all original -- 1940s with no updates since at least the 70s, and had been lived in by an old man who died recently. Very sad. His old dog still lives there with his recluse son, who was at home each time we visited. He was very shy and, well, creepy. A guy in his 50s who does nothing but sit in his dead dad's house. Very sad. (Sorry mister. You are creepy. But we like your house.) Just the same, we saw through all that and thought it would make a lovely home with a little bit of work. (OK, a lot of work.)

January is supposed to see more houses hit the market, but so far it seems even worse than December.

I discovered today how difficult it can be to find a private moment to take a photo of an object on my desk each day. It may be much more of a challenge than I had anticipated. Last week when I started doing this there was almost no one around, but now there are people around and they will look at me funny if they see me taking a photo of my Post-it tabs holder, coffee mug or stapler. And what explanation will I have if they ask "Why?" or "What are you doing?"

I had better think of something to say that will end the conversation or cause a diversion of some sort.