Laurel got one, too!

We had to go to two stores, but Laurel was able to just walk in to an AT&T shop and get one of the very last iPhones in stock.

Make that two

Of course, when Laurel was offered an iPhone at the store, she said no (she's on T-Mobile). But now ... we're on our way back out to hopefully track down another one, and she's going to switch to AT&T ...

iPhone: The I is for incredible

3 hours in line -- every minute worth it. This thing is amazing.

15 minutes to go

My dad already has one!

In line for iPhone

Maybe 100 at att store. 500 at apple store.

ICO: Set up

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

You see, it's an icosahedron.

ICO: Got it!

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Best ... game ... ever

The more I see about iPhone ...

... the more I want one! Even the freakin' activation process looks like fun! Laurel wants me to wait in line for the phone to try to get one on Friday, but my plan is to order it online and just have it shipped the next week -- although that wait is going to be a killer!!!

My brother, Mike, treasure-finder!

My brother found this -- incredible. This is a picture of me playing a game called ICO -- I loved this game, and now you can buy it. I have no idea where this picture was taken, but it was around 1982 somewhere in Tulsa, possibly at my junior high school.

Technology I want from The Lost Room

I'm in the middle of watching The Lost Room, a really interesting mini-series that I'm not sure why I didn't watch when it was on the Sci-Fi Channel originally. I think it was the ads, which didn't give a hint of how cool this show was. Anyway, I picked it up on NetFlix after hearing a recommendation on a podcast (the Dharmalars), and I've finished watching disc one of the two-disc set (or four of the six hours).

I won't give too much away except that it features one of my recurring dream topics -- rooms that shouldn't be where they are (see also a book I left off my list of top books, House of Leaves, which is so good I almost don't want anyone else to read it so I have something all my own.)

At any rate, The Lost Room also features a quest for objects that have all kinds of weird properties (the show would have been way stronger if they had more time to deal with the objects and how people found their propeties, but they do an OK job of hitting the highlights. Examples of objects: A watch that boils eggs, a comb that stops time, a nail file that makes you take a nap, an umbrella that makes people recognize you, a pencil that creates pennies -- there are 100 of these objects, and they don't have time to go over each one). Some of those objects, and the show iteslf, have made me think of technology we really should have by now:

• Real On-Demand Movies ... ALL movies: The Lost Room comes as two DVDs. NetFlix sends you the first one, you return it, and they send the second. I'm going to have to wait till sometime later this week to see part 2. Although this is incredibly fast, whatever happened to "any media, any time?" It sucks that our "on demand" cable only has a few select shows. Even NetFlix has an on-demand streaming service, but only a few of their thousands of titles are online. At worst, it takes the same amount of time to digitize a DVD as it does to watch it, and you could make it far faster with devoted computers and hardware decoders. So, instead of NetFlix just slowly bringing their catalog online in random fashion, why not digitize the movie the second I put it in my queue, and a few hours later, I can start watching it? That's only slow for the first person to watch any particular title -- then everyone else can watch immediately. Start taking advantage of the "long tail" to start getting stuff online.
• The Everywhere Photograph: At one point in the show, they find a set of polaroid pictures -- one of which, when you hold it in the spot where The Lost Room should have been (although the spot in the real world where it should be is empty), you actually see what was there when the picture was taken -- but you can move the picture around to see the whole room, not just one angle, so it is more like a window than a picture. We should have this now -- why can't I take a Tablet PC, hold it up in any random spot, and using GPS + accelerometers + internet connection + camera get an overlay of data on top of the actual stuff I'm seeing? I know folks are working on this ... too slowly.
• Hyper-Rooms: I actually do want a room that fits behind any door, but this is probably beyond today's technology.

I'm sure there will be more as I finally get to see the second half of the show ...

Georgetown Street Fair videos

Just a couple of vids I took at the Georgetown Street Fair yesterday (Georgetown is my favorite "neighborhood" in Seattle; just north of King County Airport, it features a bunch of old industrial warehouse buildings converted into cool stuff like a Vespa shop, art galleries, a few good sammich shops, an all-vinyl record shop, and even a bar that still allows (illegally) indoor smoking ... and the street fair is basically what you'd expect from such an area).

Power-tool race

Crazy Clown Says

DSC_5499.JPG
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Check out my flickr photoset of the Georgetown Street Fair.

Dave's crash course in the best books ever

1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
   Dave's notes: Even ax murderers deserve the innocent love of a prostitute.
   Why it is great: Your main character is a rascal. You name him Raskolnikov. 'nuff said.
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: The first 40 or so pages are torture, but once you make it past the horse dream, you'll read to the end in one sitting.
   Why pick this over: Brothers Karamazov? C&P has fewer of the "middle names as first names without explanation" that tend to trip up first-time Russian lit readers.
   
2. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
   Dave's notes: Even the best tennis players have daddy issues.
   Why it is great: Suicide by microwave.
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: 1000 pages + 100 pages of footnotes; the ending is on page 10 but you don't figure this out till page 995; you don't like tennis; you don't like drugs; you don't like tennis on drugs; you want to be able to use a microwave ever again.
   Why pick this over: Anything else by DFW? He seems to have shot his novel-writing wad with this one and can only write magazine articles.
   
3. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
   Dave's notes: The Davinci Code written years earlier by someone who has heard of the words "plot" and "character development."
   Why it is great: Funny; historically inaccurate only on purpose; best computer-password-hacking scene ever
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: You'll stop every 5 pages and scream, "Why did I read that piece of crap by Dan Brown???"
   Why pick this over: The Name of the Rose? Don't. Read them both.
   
4. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
   Dave's notes: Microsoft tester gets a life
   Why it is great: You had to be there
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: You weren't there
   Why pick this over: Generation X? By this time, the "slackers" in that book are easily in their 50s.
   
5. Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
   Dave's notes: Don't play little league
   Why it is great: You know some of the characters personally, in real life
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: You know some of the characters personally, in real life
   Why pick this over: In Awe? Scott didn't credit me for the chapter title and concept of "The Suffering Box" ... and, well, if you do read it, you'll know why you shouldn't have (hint: toilet scene).
   
6. The Fermata by Nicholson Baker
   Dave's notes: "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" as porn.
   Why it is great: Most frivolous use of a super-power ever.
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: You'll have to admit, yep, that's pretty much what I'd do with it.
   Why pick this over: Vox? Same book, pretty much, except Fermata has time-stopping.
   
7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
   Dave's notes: World War II was horrific. Hilarity ensues.
   Why it is great: It's the Great American Novel, so can't help but be great.
   Why you'll have a hard time with it: It probably inspired M*A*S*H, worst show ever.
   Why pick this over: Closing Time? The sequel to Catch-22 didn't need to be written.
   

Experience Ajax -- with me!

I have been invited to speak at the Ajax Experience conference this year. Check out the schedule (I speak at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday).

Let's just call it 3000 miles

I'm home! It was a total of 2980 miles ... today was the first time I experienced any rain, but it is very minor, and it is sunny in Seattle right now! (Thankfully, I didn't ride on Saturday through Portland, when it was in downpour mode.) Now I'm just waiting for Laurel's train to arrive.

670 miles and 12 hours later

I'm in Portland, after the longest ride of the trip. I was originally going to stop in Roseberg, OR, but since Laurel arrived in Portland this evening, and I was still feeling pretty good around Roseberg, I decided to push on.

We've got a really nice room at the Hilton with an incredible view of downtown -- we'll be here till Sunday, when Laurel takes the Amtrak home, and I ride the final 175 miles back to Seattle!

No big plans for Saturday; probably just relaxin' ... the Rose Parade is in town tomorrow, so that will congest most of the city in the morning anyway.

FYI, Laurel says I look like a Mountain Man with my grungy bike clothes and seven days of beard -- mostly GRAY, by the way.

California drivin' on such a summer's day

I'm in lovely Patterson, CA, after driving all day mostly on I-5. Leaving Vegas was the only bad thing today -- it took me 20 minutes to find a gas station that didn't look like it was about to host a knife fight. But everything turned out fine and it was just a long day of driving (about 500 miles). Laurel is traveling to Portland, OR, tomorrow ... not sure if I will get there tomorrow, too, but I'll get there by Saturday for sure. Then we both head home on Sunday! (Her on the train, me on motorcycle).

Loose muscles, loose slots

Ah, that was a great massage -- they call it "Intense Therapy" and it was! And right after, I hit the machines again and now I'm "only" down $47. But I think that's it for gambling on this trip.

Day 5: The windy road to Vegas

The wind was blowin' the whole way, but I made it to Vegas just fine, with an unexpected surprise -- I rode over the Hoover Dam! Today was a pretty short ride at just 220 miles, so I took the opportunity to sleep in this morning in Arizona.

As soon as I got here to Treasure Island Casino, I booked a massage -- which starts in 10 minutes, so I better get going! (Oh ... and I've already lost $60 on video poker)

Speaking of mules

Check out the huge version of this pic ... if you scroll around, you can see people on mules in the canyon! I used to play a videogame called M.U.L.E. That was fun.

A few movies

I bet he doesn't have to duct tape his gps to his bike

An interesting book I just heard about. Not sure I'll read it, though.

Canyon pix up

DSC_5252.JPG
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Check out this photo and others on Flickr!

An important point

I just got back from the Grand Canyon, and am going through the more than 300 pix I took to find the best shots (or at least, the halfway decent ones). While I do that, a quick travel tip: When you ask for a "South Rim tour" or to "take a mule to the bottom," make sure you are at the Grand Canyon in Arizona -- these terms have a very different meaning in parts of Nevada!

Rainbow's end?

I ate at a Chinese restaurant for lunch today -- it was a pretty good buffet, and oddly enough, the only commercial I heard on the radio after I left town was for that exact restaurant. But anyway, the fortune cookie said, "The rainbow's treasures will soon belong to you." So I've got that going for me.

My hotel in Williams, AZ, shares a parking lot with a Denny's, so I went there for an early-bird dinner. It was pretty good. My fondest memories of Denny's from my youth are not eating there with my Dad (the family will get that one).

Day 3: Arrived at Williams, Arizona

Rocks
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Wow, US-89 from Utah to Arizona is just great! This picture doesn't really do any justice to the incredible views, but it was convenient to a place I stopped. If I had stopped for everything photo-worthy, I never would have made it today!

Anyway, from now till Wednesday morning, I'm giving the motorcycle a break. It's been running great so far! I'm catching the Grand Canyon train at 9 a.m. and getting back around 5 p.m.

Of interest to my co-workers, I'm sure, will be, once I get to the canyon, if I can in fact tell my ass from a hole in the ground! Hee hee.

The Road Warrior

The Road Warrior
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Here in Richfield, UT, on day 2 -- I finally got enough internet going to upload the pix from yesterday properly. This is the one Laurel took of me right before I left.

Today went just fine -- although wind and elevation rises conspired to rob me of a lot of fuel efficiency. It was also a long day of riding (perhaps the longest of the trip) at 9.5 hours! I'll be at the hotel near the Grand Canyon tomorrow after a "short" 400 mile ride, and then I get a day off the bike.

The new GPS mount

Duct Tape GPS
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Ugly, but it works

Grand Canyon Trip: Day 1, "The Duct Tape Navigator"

After 480 miles, I'm here in Nampa, Idaho -- home of the sometimes-connected wireless internet. I'm hoping that sometime before I leave tomorrow, my two photos upload. Oh well.

Today was a pretty good ride, the bike was working fine, the roads were light on traffic, and the weather was just fine (a little bit of mist in the Oregon hills, but that's about it).

I did see one person's tire explode right in front of me, but I was far enough back to avoid the shrapnel.

Otherwise, the only problem was my GPS -- it shook itself free from its mount, but fortunately the wrist strap had tangled itself up enough to hold the device to the bike while I pulled over.

At my next stop, I bought some duct tape and "remounted" the GPS, so now I can tell where I'm going again

Tomorrow, it is on to Richfield, Utah!