the most wonderful time of the year

I muttered to someone earlier in the week that if I wasn't in the Christmas holiday spirit by the end of this weekend, then someone better shoot me.

Why?

The weekend's activities:
Friday night--Christmas caroling
Saturday--volunteer at a sorting center for toys for needy children, two Christmas holiday parties to attend
Sunday: A performance of The Nutcracker

Those're enough Christmas holiday activities to put Scrooge in the spirit.

The performance of the Nutcracker was fabulous! I hadn't seen it in some time, since my father and I had a day of bonding in the city when I was...nine or so. It was also nice to see the children, of which the theater was full, enjoying the performance. With the exception of Talky McTalksaot behind us, who also hacked up a lung or two during the performance, it seemed as though most of the folks were well-behaved.

Walking to the performance, after having imbibed a warm cup of coffee and a yummy sandwich, I felt so cosmopolitan--hanging out with good friends during the most wonderful time of the year--what else could be better?

ya gotta see the baby

News of the week: I bought a new digital camera.

I love all things techie, especially cameras. My old one served me well for the nearly two years I had it, and was a great introduction to digital photography. I hope it gets a good home to the woman I just sold it to on eBay. I listed it with the "Buy It Now" option, and a mere twelve minutes after listing it, it sold and was paid for. Now that's what I call instant gratification! So I'm mailing it out tomorrow (not looking forward to facing post office lines during the holidays) but it'll be nice to have some dough since I'm pretty much the big B(roke) from the camera purchase.

But it's worth it.

Lookit da baby!







When I bought my first digital camera this site was an invaluable resource for comparing makes and models. It's worth a look if you're in the market for a camera.

geekdom.

There are so many reasons why I love living in the Bay Area. I've been inspired lately to take advantage of all the great stuff this area has to offer. So when I heard that Hewlett Packard was opening up the famous "HP Garage" this weekend for limited public viewing, I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity.

Because I am a dork.

Some of the most comfortable seating ever. The picture on the far right bookcase is of the Packards standing in the living room in the 1930s. It's amazing the attention to detail the restorers have taken, right down to the clock on the bookcase that was present in the picture.


The famous "oscillator on the mantle" from the first marketing campaign.


Bill Hewlett's shack behind the house. This thing was bare bones! There was a cot, a sink, a toilet, and a desk. That's all. Clothes were hung on nails hammered into the wall. Originally it had a dirt floor and very little, if any, insulation. Once the company started to take off, it became the company's office, where the wives of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard worked in the early years.

See?

The Garage, aka Where It All Started. Yes, it merits capital letters.


Oscillators, models 200A and B. The 200B oscillator was used in the creation of Disney's "Fantasia."


Early marketing pamphlets.


A swatch of the original 1930s wallpaper sits above the oven. Since only a swatch existed, the geniuses at HP scanned the original swatch and duplicated the pattern to create wallpaper. That's hott.


The birthplace of Silicon Valley.



If you're dorky like me and actually find this kind of stuff interesting, SF Gate has a nice write up of the restoration process and history. HP, of course, also has information on the property purchased under Carly Fiorina's tenure.

he's an ass-man

I love the internet.


How else would such a fantastic clip of Our Dear State's governator surfance?

Ahhnold in Rio (NSFW)

Any bets he slept with at least three of the women?!

(thanks to CaliValleyGirl for the link)

"it only happens once a year"

I'm not one of those "Death to Starbucks!" folks, but I believe that smaller coffee houses generally offer a better product. But what do I know, really -- I'm not a coffee connoisseur.

I do find Starbucks' latest marketing campaign in SF a bit curious, however.

Apparently, there are vehicles (not sure how many) driving around the city with the red Starbucks cups affixed to the roof. The idea is that a passerby notices the cup balanced precariously on the roof of the car, and notifies the driver of said cup. The driver then informs the would-be do-gooder that Starbucks wishes them a happy holiday.

Unique marketing platform? Yes. Creating more traffic and pollution and wasting of oil resources to market for a company that needs virtually no marketing? Not so much.

Thanks to T.H. from flickr for this photo

champagne wishes and caviar dreams

Happy 22nd Birthday, sister!


Olives
Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
12.04

keep until...

I wanted to write about being spoiled by TiVo, and how I find everyday situations that I would love to pause. Then she beat me to it. If she wasn't a favorite, I'd be ticked.

wait and see

I'm a big fan of Freecycle but it bugs me to no end when folks agree to pick up an item then never show up. I've posted four items in the last week, secured takers, then have no one show up. I went through this deal twice before getting quite frustrated. Now the stuff that hasn't been picked up is going to the Goodwill, but not before I sent off a couple of (slightly snarky) emails to the folks that agreed to meet and take the stuff. And it's good stuff, too!

Just when I'd been singing the praises of Freecycle over craigslist, touting the fact that with Freecycle, people actually follow through. So much for that!