Every year Google rents a ski resort and takes the entire company on a trip. I didn't know if I was looking forward to it or not.
Both my knees are pretty well shot. One from a raquet ball accident and the other from falling off a mountain. They aren't too bad for hiking and whatnot, but aren't terribly amenable to any sideways-type motion. So I wasn't sure how into skiiing I'd be. Besides, I don't know how to ski, and I didn't want to spend the entire day listening to someone tell me how to get back up once I'd managed to fall. I mean, is there really anything to do at a ski resort besides, well, ski? Apparently there is.
The invitation came out and we had to pick what activity we wanted. I guess they rent all your gear for you and everything and snowboarding is popular. I was preparing to sit in a lodge near a fire and smoke cigars, read a book and drink myself silly on brandy. But then I saw they had inner tubing! I can do that, dodgy knees and all! I needed gear, however.
Along comes this email on the misc list at work telling us that The Sports Basement was holding special hours for Googlers -- and we'd get 20% off anything we bought during the special sale. Coincidence, or clever marketing? Hmmmm....
So I wound up getting some decent waterproof boots, waterproof pants with far too many zippers, a fleece liner, a decent jacket (also with excess zipperage), waterproof gloves, and a fleece beenie. I am very eXtreme, let me tell you. I may in fact, if the situation warrants, "Do the Dew". And how.
Now we'll see what this ski resort thing is all about. In style.
I rarely wish harm on anybody. But sometimes I do. Not often, but every so often. Usually when I run across assholes wonderful human beings like these guys: http://www.mytrafficbutler.com/ (paste that URL into a browser; I'm not helping their ranking by legitimately linking to them). To wit:
BLOGS: Other 3rd party sites are in development right now and they plan to charge you a high price for services like this, plus by then, the blog blasting advertising method will be saturated. Start blasting your web site and your ad to thousands of blogs while the advertising method is still new. You'll get noticed by 1000's and get results. Plus, search engines list these and list YOUR AD AND URL.
That's a description of one of the "services" they offer.
This site got posted to fark.com, with a "cool" tag and a headline like "Send thousands of targetted visitors to your site". Another guy on Fark chatted with a customer servcie rep from their site. Here's his actual transcript, which he posted in the thread:
That's abhorrent. And what's really super annoying is that nearly every blog out there runs on software which removes the blog spam temptation from a technical perspective. Spamming a blog doesn't help your ranking. And it can even hurt it!
The sad part is that people actually pay them to do this. The web's been around over ten years now and some folks still don't get it.
UPDATE: The guy who posted the link to Fark actually responded to the posts and said that he had "removed the blog spam service from the site" (probably due to the guy who posted the chat session above, but also maybe from a post I wrote explaining why blog spam is useless). I was composing a reply to his comments, but by the time I hit "send" the article had been deleted. A shame. I had some valid questions for winston7, and was hoping he'd answer them for me. I've never been able to talk directly to one of Satan's minions before, and was looking forward to a rare opportunity...
Ever wondered what they eat in "worsh up" country? Stuff like Tator [sic] Tot Hotdish.
Yeah, you heard that right: "Hotdish". That's what it's called. It's, uh, hot. In a dish. Get it? Double points for creativity!
And it's NOT a casserole! Because it has soup in it, see. Lots of soup. Beef, an onion, tater tots and soup. No additional salt needed. The tots and soup have all the salt you'd want. Though I'd add cheese or heavy cream in there somewhere. And gravy. Got to have gravy. Might as well make the circle complete. Since you're using tater tots as a FUCKING INGREDIENT and all...
Anyway, that's a hotdish. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat a salad and jog 3 miles.
I finally got to go to a Trader Vic's! Last week, Tess was driving back from Stanford and spied a little tiki-ish sign on the side of the road. Trader Vic's! Right there on El Camino Real! We had to go.
We got together with coworker Jim and his wife and had dinner there last night. I was expecting kitschy (and would have been perfectly happy with that; in fact I wore a nice aloha shirt, just to hedge that bet) but the place was very swanky. And the food was amazing. I had this Chilean sea bass in a wasabi buerre blanc sauce... oh baby. That was probably the best fish I've ever eaten. It was one of the best dinners I've ever had, actually. That was a shock.
When the waiter asked if we'd like drinks, I had to say yes. You're there in Trader Vic's! Drinks? The order of the day is a Mai Tai, natch! It was predictably tasty. I've had many versions of the beverage, but it was important to taste the original.
I've found my new favorite restaurant. Any out of town guests better bring something tropical and semi-fancy to wear...
The government confirms it: Yahoo, AOL, and MSN were also asked to supply search records information, and all complied. Google (rightly so) told the Feds to get bent.
This administration needs to go. Really now: Make up your own porn search terms. Don't ask a private organization to get involved in your judicial spats over silly and unproductive (and overturned!) laws.
I'll not be trusting Yahoo, AOL or MSN much. (Not that I did before, but still...) They gave everyone up without hesitation. The correct thing to do was refuse. They failed to do this correct thing, and it shows where they place their users and privacy in the grand scheme of things.
(Note: This is all my personal opinion, not authorized by anyone at work, blah blah blah.)
If anything ever fit the category of "Random Stuff" that would be this video called .
They subject this young japanese pop group to a giant lizard. By making them wear meat helmets. I guess the winner is whomever keeps their head in the lizard tank the longest.
That's just... wow.
Also be sure to check out . I'm no entirely sure what the point of that game is. I think he wants to cook and eat those tiny women, but it might just be about ballons.
Well, more accurately, it would be "Austria by September". Tracy and I are going to Europe. Much as I hate the general concept, we're taking a tour package. But I think this one will be different.
We certainly would get to see a lot: seven countries in 14 days. And frankly, I'm kind of glad that I don't have to worry about hotels and transportation and such. I'm sure getting around is easy enough, but at least with this one, they take you right to where you need to be so you can spend more time walking around the place instead of trying to figure out what turn you should have taken at that last roundabout, where the nearest rental car place is in Belgium, how to get over that fence to that certain spot in the woods, etc.
This all came about because I decided last summer that I wanted to go to Europe again -- the continent this time. And I happened across this book. I read it cover to cover. That sealed it for me. I bought a Michelin map of France and Holland, and sat down and started to see what a good 10 day trip would look like.
I wanted to see Pont-du-hoc, Omaha Beach, Carentan, Foy, Bastogne, Nijmegen, Eindhoven, and a couple other places. I didn't want to specifically see all the "Band of Brothers" battle sites, just a couple of them along with some other spots listed in the book. So Tracy and I were thinking that we'd get a rail pass, book a few hotels and sort of play it by ear once we got over there. We did that in London, and it worked out pretty well.
But then I saw the tour and figured that it's probably the only chance I'd have to get such a unique first-hand perspective of the war. And getting that perspective while standing on the exact places where the events occurred is just too good to pass up. (How else could you go see the grounds at Brecourt Manor? It's private property...) My goal was to actually be where everything went down. I wanted to see if that would impart a sense of gravity to the history, to make it somehow more visceral and get a feeling from the place. I don't know how much more visceral you can get with two actual vets telling you how it was -- while pointing at where it was!
So my reasoning is to do this tour this year, and if I want to go back and see Monte Cassino or Nuremberg then I can do that next year. But I might not be able to do the Easy Co. tour next year. Or, more correctly, Bill and Babe might not be able to. They aren't entirely young. (In fact, I saw this tour last year, for the 60th anniversary of WWII. I thought it was a one-time deal, and was surprised that they're doing it again.)
The only possible downside I could see is if tour is be "overly commemorative". There's one part where the vets review soem British WWII re-enactors. I don't have much interest in that. I just wonder if after a bit the tribute might get a little old or contrived. But probably not; I'm sure the spirit of the thing will be suitable for the occasion. Now that I think about it, even if it does get a tad maudlin at times, it'll still be worth it. And I also like that they provide airfare and meals. It's pretty much all included for you, so there's less to worry about and more to see.
It also occurred to me that my brother Shawn might like to go. I was thinking about talking to my folks and seeing if they want to pitch in on his ticket with me. He doesn't have the resources to go on a trip like this, but it would be something he'd remember for the rest of his life. He's a good traveler as well, so that'd be fun. Now if only I can convice Andy and UJ to go...
So this dullard submits a story to Slashdot about Google Analytics inviting more people to the service. And he calls it a "snazzy web site hit counter". That's like calling a 747 a "little airplane". It's just a bit more complex than a hit counter. Just a little.
It is sort of sad if people would sign up only to use it as a hit counter, though. There are a lot of people that would get much more use out of it than them. The "it would really help their online business" sort of use.
"Hit counter". Bullocks!
Grumble...
MSNBC has a test which aims to show you how much of a propensity towards autism you have. My score? 27. (No, I'm not making that up.)
That's rated as the middle of the "above average" category. I probably scored slightly higher than most not because I have autistic leanings, but because I don't much care for social settings. And I'm good at remembering numbers and things, don't like being disturbed when I'm doing something, can't multitask with a shit, and have an easy time visualizing abstract concepts.
Yeah, well...