The greatest bed ever

. . . is in the art collection at the Getty: http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o6778.html

Moving to the city

Something we've been talking about for a long, long time. This is just a list of resources.

The basics: housing. Links to local real estate companies (probably a better technical term for that somewhere, but I don't know it) include Bpm.com, Murphy Apartments, and

The basics: decor. I love Illico Design, which very conveniently just opened a store in Santana Row. I also love The Apartment. Actually, I don't love what they sell - I love the interiors they show under 'Interiors'. Gorgeous. Inspiration to go and repaint a wall or build myself a desk. El Paso Import Company is great for classic Southwestern type stuff, which one can inappropriately mix with Eames' work if desired. Eames was a modern architectural pioneer - which means that I think he's a mixed grab-bag. Some cool stuff, some uncomfy stuff, some good ideas, and some good ideas that could use updating. Unrelated: I recently bought a slate fountain as a present; these are really gorgeous.

The basics: utilities. A bunch of people have recommended Sonic as a DSL provider. And TheBlueBook.com is recommended as a source for all kinds of building contractors.

Living in the South Bay

Recreation: I keep meaning to try out the San Jose Repertory Theatre, but haven't yet. I do make it to the very cool Stanford Theatre on a pretty regular basis, however. The local discount theater seems to be the Cinema Saver 10 in Milpitas.

Yoga: recently had a great class with Kim of Yoga Center of Palo Alto.

Transport: Caltrain now runs high-speed trains from SF to SJ. In-between stops are Millbrae, Hillsdale, Palo Alto, and Mountain View. Total time SF to Mountain View: 46 minutes. Not bad. There's also the Silicon Valley Light Rail. To take light rail to SJ airport - start at the Mountain View stop, transfer at Baypointe, get off at Metro. Trip would run about an hour, based on leaving Mountain View around 3pm. From the Metro stop, there's another shuttle to the actual airport (yet another thing I haven't tried yet, having found that randomly begging rides from people at work is pretty successful).

Food: Restaurant Reviews from a local blogger whose taste seems to match mine.

Travel

Travel is key.
Useful links include SideStep for plane flights (I don't think it includes JetBlue, but it's great for everything else) and Carrentals.com for car rentals (okay, haven't tried this one myself, but I hear good things).

Specific places:
Newport, RI: Newport is full of B&Bs. Stay Newport is run by a very nice woman named Elizabeth, who found me a place to stay during a weekend in the height of "the season" (aka July). Other places include Brattle House, Admiral Fitzroy, The Chestnut, Fair Street B&B, and Cooney Cottage. For rate ranges, see this page.

Work stuff: what makes a good work environment possible

Great Hackers

Gadgetry

I love gadgetry. I was first taken into hardware stores at an early age by my mother, who treats aisles full of screws and bathroom fixtures the way many women treat the shoe department. So blame her. I still love pliers and paint, but there's all kinds of cool stuff out there which is a bit more up to date:

A USB-powered coffee-cup warmer. Does it get any better? Every tech company in the world should offer these as promotional gadgets.

Space: the final gadget frontier (yes, I know, it's really a bigger deal than that - and that's why this is here.) Courtesy of the Mars rover landing, check out the panoramic view of Mars. Takes a while to load, but definitely worth it. More photo-related stuff: an optical simulation of the way an oak tree looks from various differences. And this is the highest-pixel-count photo currently available, plus miscellaneous info on digital cameras.

A cat translation device may be coming soon to a retail store near you. Funny yet disturbing.

Recycling is good. Close The Loop is very cool in theory, although I don't know when or if I'll actually have a need for playground equipment. More relevant might be Whole House Building Supply & Salvage, which offers all kinds of cool stuff from demolished buildings.

Other

Property taxes: Frequently Asked Questions - General Information - Board of Equalization

If we decide to adopt a dog: Welcome to the Companion Animal Rescue Effort Home Page

Sites about books: All Consuming

PCWorld.com - Could Your CD Contain Corn? Good news for my farming relatives in Illinois - a new market for corn.

Subject Top Page: AB71 ELIGIBLE VEHICLES - SINGLE OCCUPANT CARPOOL LANE USE STICKERS
A list of the cars which qualify for the DMV sticker that lets you use carpool lanes even if you're driving alone. Sadly, no hybrids qualify - natural gas and electric only.

Re: tech investing
Bloomberg Silicon Valley Index
Performance of the SVI
List of stocks included in the SVI
Note that no search engines are included - was hoping for Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves.

Café Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh
Possible image for a New Year's card . . . this site has a good idea - buying prints/images a different prices depending on intended use.

The legal stuff that makes it illegal for telemarketers to call cellphones: U.S. Code Title 47 addressing unsolicited telephone advertising
Rumor has it that if telemarkets do call your cellphone, you can file a complaint (somewhere) and get $500 from them (somehow). Not sure how this works, but it's a great idea. Maybe we should start charging for incoming calls to land lines too, if we could start getting cash from telemarketers every time they interrupt our lives.

Oddities and Comedy

Several days ago, I ran across a reference to 'underpants gnomes.' Happily, there's an explanation at Underpants Gnomes - Wikipedia.

CNN.com - Homeless gnomes gather dust in France - Oct. 28, 2003 This is why I like France. No, really. I'm not being sarcastic. A public police statement which is *funny?!*

Ned Batchelder: How to make business card cubes And I though there was nothing good to do with old business cards. Reminds me of paper airplanes or misc. Origami we used to do in middle school during class. . . .

PlaySyzygy :
Word game.

If you ever wanted to know how homing pigeons work: CNN.com - Secret of homing pigeons revealed - Feb. 6, 2004

How archaeology gets a bad rap: CNN.com - Stonehenge riddle 'solved.' It's a girl - Jul. 10, 2003

Hipster Bingo
Is this funny if you don't live in New York? And how come I remember half this stuff from high school?

Angle-Grinder Man
British humor. I think. Or maybe social rebellion. Not sure.

Google Search: answer to life, the universe, and everything

Mind Your Own Business
This is great. Apparently one of our first coins had the right idea. Bring them back!

404 - Document Not Found More entertaining than the usual 404 error.

Weird WordsIndex Weird Words Index

The Penguin Game: need a new link to it; my last one died

object sex - www.beautyinchaos.com
A site that lets you vote on whether various inanimate objects are masculine or feminine. I can't quite overcome my Romance-language preconceptions: a window is always female, dammit! I worked hard to learn that.

Summary of proposed avian data transmission: an alternative to broadband? Avian data transmission

The Geek Test
Ha! Funnier since I started working for a tech company. . . .

jardMail - Techno Nocturnal Christmas Blues
Also funnier since I started working for a tech company.

www.paulsadowski.com/cgi-bin/random.php : A page that really does generate random web pages.

Welcome to LinkedIn
Networking site targeting employers/employees/professional contacts. Networking sites are starting to fascinate me. . . .

Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19
Self-explanatory.

Goodle Good News
If Google News got a 'cheerful' filter.

A really nice idea: that the Internet is la biblioteca de los pobres. Not mine; I read it somewhere.

Cross stitch kits and cross stitch charts, free postage Cross stitch design of a French shop window (very idealized).

AzFoo.net::Learning About Foo Odd, very odd.

Guide Kind of a cool idea.

Mysteries of the universe Multiple universes and Schrodinger's cat.

Notes on Alcohol

Port
View London | Drink | Port
The basics.

Tequila
Presenting the whole margarita
Tequila/margarita info from SF Chronicle's drinks section.

Margarita lesson tackles the question of tequila
More tequila info, plus recipe for margaritas and other good stuff (as in, food) to make with tequila. Recommends 'reposado' tequila.

Tequilas now purer than Gold
Background info re: tequila.