I am the ghost of groovymother.com. Woooooo!

Beautiful day at the ballpark

*sigh*

Two more Rickshaw bags

The bespoke bags Joy and I got from Rickshaw Bagworks as part of their Living Social special. Joy got the small white-and-black-with-purple-trim Zero messenger bag, mine is a medium "Piccadilly Tweed"-with-chocolate trim.

Also slightly visible: My custom Rickshaw "Commuter 2.0" laptop bag that I bought in July and love to pieces. The new one is for lighter-weight "just my iPad and keyboard when I go to the coffee shop" duties!

Yelp in “Actually doing something innovative” Shocker!

The new Yelp iPhone app has snuck in a nifty "Augmented Reality" view. This shot is taken from out of the window at Slide.

Atop the Green Monster

Watching the Yanks take batting practice.

You Look Nice Today AGM

Merlin Mann recaps a disappointing year for @ylnt. Snare, Baby on a Dog, and The Fishstick: all lost money. :(

I Voted

The true symbol of democracy in America -- The smug satisfaction of getting to wear the elusive "I Voted" sticker.

It was the only reason I bothered voting, to be honest.

(t-shirt)

All filled out

The seven sides(!) of the ballot, filled out and ready to be deposited in the ballot box.

This sample ballot shows how much crap I had to vote on after making my presidential selection.

What two-party system?

My first vote as an American

The basement of City Hall

There were about 40 people in front of me waiting to cast early ballots.

Polling Place

San Francisco City Hall

Phishy

One problem with OAuth and similar authentication systems -- When the browser is embedded in the application (as in this case with AirMe, but I also saw it in Exposure) with no URL visible, you have no idea if you're giving your username and password to Yahoo, or to some phisher.

Rain Delay

The game gets halted for 90 minutes. Thankfully, the tarp came off and the Sox won 6-4.

Full House that Ruth built

Sold-out Sox/Yankees match at Yankee Stadium. Joy & I wanted to visit here at least once before the Yanks move next door to... Yankee Stadium

Torch protest

The "Free Tibet" and "Free Darfur" groups were protesting the torch, but a visibly larger group of Chinese supporters were protesting the protesters.

And in the end, the torch didn't come anywhere near us!

Chumby

My Chumby, powered-up, and making my life approximately 65% better by displaying a live feed from the San Diego Zoo Pandacam.

I believe it can perform other tasks too, but who cares? PANDAS!

I CAN HAS IPHONE!

“Smart” Water

Apple sent out a couple of employees with bottles of water to keep the line cool.

geeksinboston.com planning

Today at DevHouseBoston2, Shimon Rura, Jeff Potter and myself started work on creating a local geek-event aggregator/notifier webapp.

With a design sensibility somewhere between Craigslist and Upcoming, it should be live in the next couple of weeks.

These Animals BITE!

Pink Flamingo

Joy enjoying a cola at Carl’s Jr.

As part of our tour of California, we've been attempting to sample the fast food at the chains that are only found on the west-coast.

The Six Dollar Burger at Carl's Jr, the Double-Double Animal Style at In-N-Out and a Jumpin' Jack at Jack in the Box have all been devoured. Plus shakes and/or malts at each -- The Carl's Jr. Caramel Malt is my favourite so far.

The weight-loss starts when we get back home.

“Carrot Top Fantasy”

Words that should never be placed together.

“LOUD ALARM WILL SOUND - Smile for the Camera”

24th St and Mission BART station.

Curt’s Post-Game Interview

One out shy of a no-hitter, Curt Schilling talks to Tina Cervasio of NESN.

Curt Pitches

This was out number 24 en route to what looked like a no-hitter.

LOUDER! NOISE!

Apparently, in Oakland the crowd need to be *told* to cheer their team.

The view on NESN

Peering through a TV camera.

The view from our seats

Here's what it looked like from Row 35 in Section 110 of the McAfee Coliseum. The tickets were considerably cheaper (and easier to come-by) than their Fenway equivalents.

What passes for a bullpen in Oakland

Schilling warming up.

McAfee Coliseum

Jelly Belly

At the Jelly Belly factory.

1 Infinite Loop

When we arrived, there was someone posing next to the sign and having his photo taken. I'm not that much of a fanboy, so I just took a shot out the car window as I drove by.

(I did end up spending $120 in the Apple Company Store, though!)

“Door to Nowhere”

One of Sarah Winchester's more interesting architectural features -- the door from the second floor to the garden.

Hard Hat

Joy wearing her hard-hat, before we went a-adventuring on the Winchester Mystery House behind-the-scenes tour.

Mini Golf

Looking through the list of "Things To Do In San Jose" that was in our hotel, Joy immediately went "Oooh!" when she saw a mini-golf course.

Getty Center Garden

Me in the Getty Center Garden

Flowers in the Getty Center Garden

I’m covered in beeeees!

Joy in the Getty Center Garden

Bacon’s star

Originally Lloyd's, not Kevin's.

The Line at Pink’s

We went to get hot dogs at Pink's, having heard good things about them, but a 45 minute wait in the sun didn't appeal. Maybe another time.

Second Scientology Flyer

The second flyer I received from Scientologists today. Rather disingenuously, this one doesn't feature the word "scientology" anywhere on it. (It's credited to the "Citizens Commission on Human Rights® International")

It's only because of that whole BBC Panorama farrago from a few weeks that I know that the "An Industry Of Death" thing is anything to do with them.

Scarface Flip-Flops, sir?

Most bizarre thing spotted in a Hollywood gift-shop so far.

Scientology Flyer

Flyer from the first time (of three) I was approached by Scientologists on Hollywood Boulevard today. At least this one mentions Scientology.

Back Seat Basset

When Bacon's in the back of the car, and I'm stopped in traffic, he loves sticking his head out the window and getting adoration from the other drivers.

…for some value of left

Road testing my new GPS in Cambridge gave this rather bizarre instruction (it's telling me to take a "left on Magazine St", but the illustration is actually taking a right onto Massachusetts Ave).

Proof that the roads of New England are too much for even the smartest of technology to deal with.

View from the Stage, Ignite Boston!

The blinding light of the LCD projector, above a pretty full (and frustratingly loud-at-the-back) room.

At last! The secret formula! It is mine!

Spotted on a door at Fenway: The secret instructions for making a footlong hotdog. WIth this recipe, I shall RULE THE WORLD!

Spot the life-long Sox fan

Joy and my parents at Fenway Park.

You'll note that my dad (who's never been to a baseball game before) and my mum (who's been once) are both wearing Red Sox jackets. I'd mentioned to them the night before that it can get kind of chilly in the evening, so they should maybe bring a jacket. So when they happened upon Red Sox jackets at Marshall's earlier in the day, they snapped them up.

Classy!

“Boston Runs On Big Papi”

Mr Dice, Meet Mr K. (again)

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 8:05 pm 4/11/07 Boston, Massachusetts

Yet more Japanese

WEEI and ESPN Radio were both handing out Japanese signs for the crowd to hold up. No idea what they say, though. (Outside the park after the game, the Sully's Tees folks were selling shirts that said "YANKEES SUCK" in Japanese. Some things are universal)

Mr Dice, Meet Mr K.

These guys were a couple of rows back from us. Joy & I are totally going to rip off their idea this Hallowe'en.

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 6:44 pm 4/11/07 Boston, Massachusetts

ZoneTag: Photosphere / About. Owner only: Fix Location / Add Tags / Settings

Japanese Baseball Cheers

Handed out outside the park.

Matsuzaka 18

First person I saw with a MATSUZAKA 18 shirt on. Saw a fair few people who'd recycled their "DAMON 18" shirts from before he went evil.

Popeye’s Chicken Welcomes Japanese-Speaking Red Sox Fans

First piece of Japanese writing I saw near Fenway, outside the Popeye's Chicken.

Hairy Chest in the Sox Crowd

This is why watching the Sox in HD is so important. Sure, the game's a bit clearer, but really, it's all about those moments when Orsillo & Remy lose their everloving minds and amuse themselves.

Here, they take a fan to task who had removed his shirt (along with his friends) to spell "BOSTON" across their chests. They spent a good two minutes discussing how he should trim his chest hair, pondering whether it joined around the back, doodling with the telestrator, and commenting how he reminded them of Austin Powers. The cameras even cut away from Youk's home run to show this guy putting his shirt back on.

Hooray for Don and the Remdawg.

Brave Basset

Clyde got attacked by another dog at the dog park this evening, and we had to take him to the vet to get the cuts looked at. A few staples later and he should be right as rain.

Thankfully, he's taking it all in his stride -- apart from strongly refusing to be put into one of those headcone things. No amount of snausages would convince him to wear it!

This ATM is NOT A BOMB

explanation

This parking meter is NOT A BOMB

explanation

This cone is NOT A BOMB

explanation

The phone is NOT A BOMB

explanation

The box is NOT A BOMB

explanation

Yum!

Joy savours the delight that is the "Berry Smoothie" barium stomach liner, prior to her CT scan today.

WebInno10 Tuesday 7:12 pm 1/30/07 Cambridge, Massachusetts

The tenth Web Innovators Group meetup. By my guesstimate, there were well over 200 people there this evening, a far cry from the 60 or so crammed into the back room at Tommy Doyle's the first time I went.

Wii News Channel

It just seems right that the first story I pulled up on the new Wii "News Channel" was about the European PS3 launch.

Doozer and a Doozer

On the left, a doozer. On the right, my new Nabaztag/tag, who I've named "Doozer".

Trashbag Balancing Thursday 7:25 am 1/4/07 Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville changed their Trash pickup policy on the 1st January. Now trash will only be accepted if it's in, or on, a trashcan; you can't just leave the bags on ground level. I forsee my future of creative stacking. (Or, perhaps, going out and buying a second bin.)

Theo Cheever: Five-Year-Old Rawk God

Theo, middle child of the multi-talented Cheever brood, shows off his prowess on "the skins".

“Project threequarters” is live

Just launched my rebuilt and redesigned blog. It's still a bit on the brittle side, but I'm really happy with it as a first step.

Packaged Pooped Pooch

Bacon, too tired to swat off the ribbon we attached to him.

Patrolling

Clyde guards the brie and meatballs to ensure no unsavoury fate befalls them.

Joy & Bacon

Bacon doing his best Rudolph impression by hiding behind a carnation.

It’s Me! On TV! Courtesy of Wii! Eeeeee!

Not terribly legible (wonder if component cables will make a difference), but here's my blog on the telly, courtesy of the freshly-launched "Internet Channel" on my Wii.

Rather surprisingly, the browser supports Flash video, so the combination of Wii and YouTube finally gives me a way to, if you can imagine such a thing, enjoy watching video on my television.

Basset Belly Balancing

Bacon makes himself comfortable, perched atop my ample gut.

Dev House Boston Saturday 12:45 pm 12/9/06 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dev House Boston Saturday 12:45 pm 12/9/06 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dev House Boston Saturday 12:44 pm 12/9/06 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mac owners attract each other, it seems.

A magnetic ode to our dogs

Joy got a "Dog Lovers" Magnetic Poetry set for her birthday. This is her first work on our fridge.

Gawd Bless the Qwiin

My Wii, looking all patriotic after the application of a decal from DecalGirl.com.

Come, Children! Drink from Santa’s Cock!

Inappropriate beverage dispensers, spotted in Target.

Sunset from The Mountain

One of the advantages of working at a location with the street address of "The Mountain"? Getting to see some gorgeous sunsets from the parking lot.

It’s the ID badge hanging from the sporran that makes it traditional Scottish dress

I wore my kilt into work today, for reasons that aren't terribly interesting (let's just say I agreed to it on Saturday night after I'd imbibed some Harpoon Barleywine.)

If anyone asked, I told them it was "Sean Connery Day".

Wii in Action

Home, unpacked, and rawkin'! Four hours in the cold? Worth it!

We have Wii!

The Wii bundle (the console plus Excite Truck and Zelda, neither of which I really wanted, but which I should be able to sell on eBay no problem), plus Super Monkey Ball and Rayman: Raving Rabbids. In my car boot. Mine!

I'm a happy camper.

Updated to add: Zelda and Excite Truck both sold on half.com in about 10 minutes, recouping my $90. Ace!

Got my ticket.

Twelfth in line. My Costco had 48 to hand out, and everyone in line at 9am got one. In fact, the manager had to stand around outside with a spare ticket until a family showed up at 9.31am and claimed the final system!

My hero

This kind gentleman showed up with a Box of Joe and donuts to share amongst the line.

Costco Wii line

The line for Wii, outside Costco in Everett MA at about 7.30am.

Originally, I was planning on going to Target, but when I got there about 6.30, they'd already handed out tickets to the line for all the systems they had. (Some students were offering to sell their places in line. I didn't bother asking for how much)

The official word from Costco earlier in the week had been that they weren't stocking Wii's in their retail stores, to avoid lines. This turned out to be untrue, as when I wandered round the corner, there were 11 people waiting, including an off-duty Costco employee who said they had 48 in stock!

Smokey Robinson’s ‘The Soul Is In the Bowl’ Red Beans and Rice

New in the freezer section at Stop & Shop. "Diana Ross & The Temptations' Salisbury Steak Dinner" not pictured.

Working from Home

Ah, the pleasures of working from home. (See notes on picture.) I could get quite used to this.

Snoozing Clyde

Tuckered out, bandana-d up, and smelling sweet, after a trip to the grooming salon at Petco.

God Says: Please Do Not Go to Hell

Tucked under my windscreen wiper on Landsdowne St. As I approached my car, I thought I'd got a parking ticket. Instead, I just got redemption. Phew!

Vote Dig

The badges being handed out at the Weekly Dig "Dig This" awards party.

With Love, From Carnegie Deli

My birthday present from my wee sister? 2.5lbs of cheesecake, overnighted from the Carnegie Deli in New York.

Joy’s Moo Cards

I treated Joy to a box of Moo Cards for herself -- each illustrated with a photo of the dogs. Here are two, resting in some dog photo holders I picked up for her at Philadelphia Airport.

The word ‘unblowupable’ is thrown around a lot these days.

This is the pressure-gauge on the outside of our central heating furnace that gave up the ghost over the weekend. You might note that the clear protective plastic shield on it has turned brown, melted and buckled.

This is because the furnace apparently decided that merely heating water into steam and pushing it around our radiators was, shall we say, passé, and instead dived head-first into a mission of heating itself up to a frighteningly hot temperature and dripping boiling water onto the basement floor.

Remind me again why home-ownership is a good idea?

Home, Wednesday 5:53 pm 10/18/06 Somerville, Massachusetts

Berkeley Street, Wednesday 5:52 pm 10/18/06 Somerville, Massachusetts

Dunkin Donuts, Union Square Wednesday 5:49 pm 10/18/06 Somerville, Massachusetts

Used Car lot, Prospect St Wednesday 5:48 pm 10/18/06 Somerville, Massachusetts

Corner of Prospect & Hampshire, Wednesday 5:42 pm 10/18/06 Cambridge, Massachusetts

KFC Windows, Wednesday 5:42 pm 10/18/06 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Back of a bus, Wednesday 5:34 pm 10/18/06 Boston, Massachusetts

Pike Exit 18, Wednesday 5:32 pm 10/18/06 Boston, Massachusetts

Newton Sheraton, Wednesday 5:29 pm 10/18/06 Newton, Massachusetts

Shaws, Wednesday 5:26 pm 10/18/06 Newton, Massachusetts

Fast Lane, Weston Tolls, Wednesday 5:23 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

Weston Tolls, Wednesday 5:23 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

Pike Exit 14, Wednesday 5:22 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:21 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:21 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

2 miles from Exit 14, Wednesday 5:21 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:20 pm 10/18/06 Weston, Town Of, Massachusetts

Eastbound Services, Wednesday 5:18 pm 10/18/06 Wayland, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:17 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:17 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

Westbound Services, Wednesday 5:16 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:15 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:14 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:14 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:13 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

Deval Patrick Supporters. Wednesday 5:11 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

ZoneTag Photo Wednesday 5:10 pm 10/18/06 Framingham, Town Of, Massachusetts

My Flickr Moo Cards

A mixture of Boston, Bassets and a Bunch of other stuff. They look great, especially considering most of the photos were taken with crappy cameraphones!

Sadly, two of the twenty images I uploaded got printed as "Unavailable photo:" Not sure what caused that, but I'm gonna ping Moo and see what happened.

Decorated Trunks

Someone's been decorating the tree trunks around Union Square.

‘Best’ of Boston?

This is odd. Dunkin Donuts cups currently proclaim that they were awarded a "Best of Boston" award by Boston Magazine this year. However, a search of the Best of Boston site finds no such win.

In fact, it appears that the "award" was merely a corporate agreement to use the cup on the magazine cover.

I love DD as much as the next New Englander, but since the "Best of Boston" usually _means_ something (unlike some other awards, which just rank which business did the best job getting their customers to ballot-stuff), it seems massively lame to whore the title this way.

Jon Stewart, The Wang Center, Friday 10:50 pm 10/6/06

For our third wedding anniversary, I treated meself and the missus to tickets to see Jon Stewart do standup. He was splendidly entertaining, though it seemed like he hadn't updated his standup act much over the last few years (jokes about Y2K, the Million Man March and Rodney King!)

Pandora Town Hall, MIT, Tuesday 6:25 pm 10/3/06

Tim Westergren of Pandora, talking with a hundred-or-so interested students and other music geeks at MIT.

Pandora Town Hall, MIT, Tuesday 6:10 pm 10/3/06

A subset of the crowd at the Pandora Town Hall.

Massive Attack, Boston Orpheum, Sunday 9:14 pm 10/1/06

The light show was really quite stunning, but of course, looks like ass on my cameraphone. Their use of scrolling ticker displays reminded me somewhat of the Blue Man Group!

Clyde’s Nest

Clyde isn't spritely enough to hop onto the bed like Bacon, so he's made himself a little nest in the corner of the bedroom.

Blue Screened

Clearly the presenter from Traineo had not performed sufficient sacrifices to the god of demos before getting up at the Web Innovators Group. Within 10 seconds of starting, his laptop bluescreened.

And all the Mac fanboys in the crowd smiled to themselves.

Pyrotechnics Wednesday 10:59 pm 9/20/06

The grand finale for the Stones gig, ending at 11pm precisely.

Truly rock'n'roll at its most punctual.

The Rolling Stones, Gillette Stadium. Wednesday 9:36 pm 9/20/06

I managed to nab some free tickets to tonight's Stones gig in Foxborough. We were up in the nosebleediest of nosebleeds, but for free, we weren't complaining.

Well that’s something you don’t see everyday

Open-top Double Decker Routemaster London bus driving round the streets of Cambridge, MA.

Remy & Orsillo bobbleheads

Bobbleheads of the Red Sox commentators.

Copley Place Security Guard

This is the security guard at the offices in Copley Place.

Joy works there, and I was going to visit her. This guard asked for my ID, and when I gave her my driver's license, she started typing all the information from it (license number, home address, date of birth) into her computer. I complained, asked about privacy policies, was refused any explanation for what they might do with my data, demanded my ID back, and I was refused entry, so Joy came down to meet me.

While I was waiting for Joy, I took a photo of the guard just to piss her off more. (I actually turned the flash on my cellphone on, just so it was completely clear what I was doing).

Yes, I am a smartarse.

The Tobin Bridge Tuesday 2:26 pm 9/12/06 Charlestown, Massachusetts

Taken during the Bose Cruise (It's like a Booze Cruise, but with less alcohol, and greater noise reduction).

Boattuggery Tuesday 2:11 pm 9/12/06 Boston, Massachusetts

A tanker navigating Boston Harbor with a few tugboats guiding it.

The Zakim Bridge Tuesday 1:57 pm 9/12/06 Boston, Massachusetts

My favourite new piece of architecture in Boston.

Skyline Tuesday 1:48 pm 9/12/06 Boston, Massachusetts

Airyplane Tuesday 12:50 pm 9/12/06 Boston, Massachusetts

Descending to Logan.

Exit 25MPH

Just discovered that when I use ZoneTag with my GPS whilst driving, it not only tags the photo with "driving", but also the speed at which I was going.

Which was 65mph when I took the photo of this road sign, apparently.

‘New Hampshire Boring’

Refreshingly honest, but it really feels like the New Hampshire tourist board isn't even trying anymore.

Joy, Asleep, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin.

Joy hadn't had enough sleep, and her epilepsy was playing up, so for her, the walking tour of Kilmainham Gaol was more of a napping-and-leaning tour.

Snakes which are neither on a plane, nor in a movie theater

AMC apparently has a policy that you are not allowed to take rubber snakes into movie theaters showing Snakes on a Plane. These were the contraband snakes confiscated prior to this evening's showing.

Corn-Gratulations!

What a corny pun.

Yellow Brick Road

The final bridge before victory.

Fabio!

Fabio is on the right. Peter is on the left.

View from the bridge *over* the Victory Bridge

The red carpet bridge was right below us, but we took another thirty minutes to find our way there.

Christine and Pete

This was my team.

The Davis Mega-Maze Thursday 1:31 pm 8/17/06 South Lancaster, Massachusetts

This afternoon, our team at work took a group outing (under the auspices of "team building exercise") to the Davis Mega-Maze, a massive maze through 10-foot-tall corn. It took us an hour to find our way out!

Scooby Snacks

When I got home from work, there was an unexpected package on the doorstep from Petco.com.

"Crap!", thinks I. "Clearly Bacon has got himself a credit card, and entered the murky world of e-commerce."

Luckily, it turned out to be a gift from the lovely folks at Reddit, as thanks to Bacon for appearing in banner ads for them!

As a precaution, though, I've taken away Bacon's pre-authorized credit-card application forms. You can't be too careful.

FIVE!

One of my pet peeves is when I'm trying to find a friend's house, but can't read any of the house numbers on the street.

I just installed this number on our house this week. It's a nifty design -- It's solar-powered, so it charges its battery during the day, then when it gets dark, lights up using a couple of white LEDs.

The things I do to help out our friends. (OK, I'll be honest: Most visitors to our front door are Chinese and Pizza delivery guys).

$20 from ThinkGeek.

Arrogant Bastard Ale Saturday 9:55 pm 7/29/06 Somerville, Massachusetts

My chum Noel and I sample Arrogant Bastard Ale. The bottle warned us "You probably won't like this," and it was right.

Baldy!

Having woken up to a particularly stonking case of bedhead this morning, I inwardly-dialogued "fuck it!" and asked Joy to help me take my beardtrimmer to my head.

Lesson learned? Next time, use a longer setting on the trimmer, cause my blond hair is nearly transparent this short.

Gigantor Remote

Ah, I love the crap they sell at Brookstone. The overpriced junk that gives the air of being vaguely useful, but is too cheap and shoddy to actually solve a problem well.

My favourite one that I saw yesterday was this $50 massive universal remote. Pretend to be a Lilliputian from the comfort of your couch!

Steee-rike!

Joy bowling at King's. For a crappy cameraphone shot, I think this turned out pretty good!

Basset Hounds! Sunday 12:41 pm 7/16/06 Bristol, Rhode Island

Some of the bassets relaxing in the shade at the Colonial Basset Hound Rescue Basset Bash.

Maggie May, Sunday 11:23 am 7/16/06 Bristol, Rhode Island

This adorable little puppy stole everyone's hearts at the Basset Bash.

Women drivers!

Joy attacks me on the dodgems at Canobie Lake.

Puffy AmiYumi, Wednesday 10:10 pm 7/12/06 Boston, Massachusetts

The Puffy AmiYumi Splurge! Splurge! Splurge! tour. They read their on-stage banter off of notebooks. "Thank you. You guys... are.. the.. best?" It only sounded 5% more scripted than when native English-speaking bands do it..

Hitched

A (year-and-a-half) belated first wedding anniversary gift from our smashing chum, Cheryl: A signed Garry Trudeau print of Mike & JJ from Doonesbury.

Hopefully, our marriage will turn out happier than theirs!

Aimee Mann with the Boston Pops, Wednesday 9:40 pm 6/28/06

Morningwood, Sunday 11:08 pm 6/25/06 Boston, Massachusetts

The lead singer, Chantel, has a helluva lot of energy in her. Especially considering they've cancelled the next four dates in the tour because she's sprained her leg.

Morningwood Sunday 10:56 pm 6/25/06 Boston, Massachusetts

Chantel getting the crowd to crouch during "nth Degree". As I took this photo, she was admonishing the Axis security, and telling them to crouch too.

View from the State Street Pavillion

Managed to get a pair of "Standing Room" tickets in the "State Street Pavillion" at Fenway. Since it was a pretty grey day, not everyone had shown up, so we had seats for the whole game. Result!

Joy trains her brain

I bought the DS Lite that I've been craving for so long this morning. Joy's been quite taken with Brain Age.

I'm hoping to get it back off her soon so that I can indulge in a little more Super Mario.

Ingredients for Web 2.0 Success

"Pierre Francois from Underscore_ Consulting" (who looked alarmingly similar to Alexis from Reddit) did a great presentation, somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segment. The video should be up soon.

Panel: Startup 2.0 - The New Landscape

Building Scalable Web Infrastructure

Carbohydrates A Go-Go

Geekfood

Goatse Stickers

Spotted on Brian's laptop. Purchasable from GoatseSticker.com

How Technology is Changing the Music Industry

Shimon & the Schedule Board

This was right at the start of BarCamp, before it got completely filled for the day.

My Laptopstickers

My olde, busted-up, nicked-from-three-jobs-ago laptop. Now barely-functional (the powercord doesn't quite stay in, the battery lasts about 4 seconds, and the lid hinges won't keep the screen open), but I wanted to document its coverage before I bin it.

XM Inno

I'm playing with a loaned XM Inno radio at the moment. It's considerably shinier than my olde Roady -- Nice colour screen, the ability to save tracks you like, and a reasonably decent UI for browsing stations (better than the one on the competing Sirius player.)

And hey! If they're getting sued by the RIAA, they've got to be doing _something_ right!

No running, shouting or piddling in the shallow end.

Our basement, with the delightful addition of a couple of inches of floodwater. Every hardware store in the area is sold out of pumps, so we're waiting for the fire department to pop round and help us out. Oh, the joys of homeownership.

EL(?)OO

Do Stop & Shop lie? Is this really "Extra Light" enough for Shangri-La?

The Radio Knives, P.A.’s Lounge, Somerville

My Brother-(in-law)^2's band. Fine garage-rawk tunes can be found at their MySpace page.

Crated Bacon

Bacon suffered a back injury this week -- A slipped disc or a pinched nerve, reckons the vet. Poor little bugger has the be kept in his crate (except for "short leashed walks") for two weeks.

Since he's caged and being fed steroids, Keith suggested we should rename him "Veal".

Licky Tongue

Monster Joy

Joy on the Green Monster. As opposed to next to the green monster.

A Six-Foot Latte

You know, I often dream about getting this much caffeine.

View from the Monster

We had Green Monster tickets for tonight's Sox game. Since our normal seats are way back in right field, this was quite a different view!

Somerville has a Dog Park

Until very recently, there was not a single place in the City of Somerville (population ~77,000) where you could let your dog off-leash. Thankfully this has now changed, with the just-opened dog run on Nunziato Field. Here's some of the cheerful dogs that were gallavanting round there when we took Bacon down this evening.

Bacon guards his squeakyball

Don't you dare try and steal it from him, or he'll viciously roll his eyes, yawn and ignore you.

A ‘smooth, creamy coffeehouse classic’, apparently

Or, alternatively, half-a-mug of piss-weak, nastily artifically-sweetened, CoffeeMate-crammed brownwater. The rather disappointing result of trying a HomeCafe "frothy cappuccino" pod.

I got the coffee machine for free from BzzAgent, but I still feel ripped-off. I'll stick with my Senseo, thanks.

Apple Powerbook 5300cs

Intel is for wussies. The 100Mhz PowerPC 603e is where it's at.

This laptop was unceremoniously dumped in the random-crap-pile outside my cube. It's ten years old, running System 7.5, has a staggering 24Mb of RAM, and a whopping 500Mb hard drive. Anyone got suggestions for what I can use it for?

A toddler’s drawing of me

On the flight back from San Diego, a mother and her daughter sat next to me. I feared a 6-hour chunk of screaming wean, but the kid was surprisingly quiet, watching her Barney DVDs and reading her Curious George books.

This is a picture she drew of me. (Actually, the mother drew the head and body, and the girl added the glasses, beard and baseball cap) A pretty decent likeness!

View from the 40th Floor

Shot from the bar at the top of the Hyatt. San Diego really has the most dull featureless skyline!

Three Roombas enter, One Roomba leaves

Hardcore Three-way Roomba-on-Roomba Action.

Roomba Rumble

Two remote-control Roombas battle it out at Makefest.

My main thought from day one of ETech…

"Branded Lanyard" would be a great name for a rock band.

Another Zonetag test

Bacon's tail: Too fast for the LED flash on the camphone.

Belle & Sebastian, Avalon, Boston

ZoneTagged Mon Feb 27, 2006 19:03:29 PST

Dicking around with the new cellphone

ZoneTagged Mon Feb 27, 2006 15:50:02 PST

Talking House

A house near us has just gone up for sale, and apparently there's an AM transmitter so you can hear all about it without having to ring the doorbell.

Of course, the bad man in me wants to try to broadcast "Metal Machine Music" on that frequency at a higher power.

They're currently asking about $50k more than the Zillow Zestimate. Curious to see how this plays out with regards to Zillow's estimates.

last.fm Player on TiVo HME

Someone's knocked out a last.fm player for the TiVo HME platform. Works pretty well too. If you've got a Series 2 TiVo hooked up to your home network, follow the instructions at apps.tv to give it a try.

Is nothing sacred?

The (rather poorly-received) movie version of trippy 70's on-before-the-BBC-evening-news French animation, The Magic Roundabout, has been re-dubbed for America.

Some of the (mostly piss-poor ex- or current-SNL) vocal talents are horrendous. Whoopi Goldberg as Emintrude? Jimmy motherfuckin' Fallon as Dylan?!?

(Jim Broadbent vs William H Macy as Brian, on the other hand, is too close to call)

But worst of all is the bastardisation of Dougal's name for the movie's title. Clearly America is a little *too* hooked-on-phonics.

I ♥ Carnegie Deli

A pound or two of turkey, pastrami, swiss cheese, coleslaw and russian dressing, on pumpernickel. A wee snack.

Pixar Zoetrope

A three-dimensional zoetrope at the 20 Years of Pixar Animation exhibition at MOMA. The turntable spins and a strobe starts, creating the illusion of motion.

Soup

Andy Warhol's 32 paintings of every available variety of Campbell's soup.

My OpenPGP smartcard

Now I can pretend to be Jack Bauer with my GPG encryption keys stored on a smartcard. If you encrypt something to 0xC84C962B, you can be certain that it will be seen by my eyes only. Unless a rather bad man has managed to subtly convinced me to give up my PIN, using little more that the art of persuasion, and a length of rubber hose.

I'm not entirely sure what the legalities are of my importing this card into the US, but for now it's nestled snugly in my wallet between my Green Card and my ACLU membership card.

Slumber Party

Joy phoned me on my cellphone at work this week.

"Look at your cellphone."

"What?"

"Look at your cellphone."

"Huh?"

I look at my cellphone. This shot, taken by Joy that morning, was my phone's wallpaper.

"Bitch."

(Apparently, when Joy decided to take the photo, Bacon was asleep too. However, by the time she'd worked out how to take a photo with my phone, he was just staring.)

This correspondence is forwarded from a Massachusetts Correctional Institution

A letter arrived yesterday for a former resident of our house, from someone in prison. I'm tempted to open it up just to make sure it doesn't say either "I'm coming to get you" or "I'm coming to stay when I get out", but I think returning-to-sender is in order.

Bacon’s a huge Ted Williams fan

Basset Hound socks

A gift to me from Joy. Because christmas just wouldn't be christmas without a jaw-droppingly ugly pair of bad-taste socks.

NO LIMOS

Odd juxtaposition -- The McDonalds on Boylston St in Boston has this sign at the entrance to its parking lot. They clearly get a classier kind of burger-eater than most drive-thrus.

If music is important in your life, sooner or later you will own a [RhymesWithNose] system

Spotted this slogan on a truck while waiting for a train to pass. What a gloriously arrogant statement. I, of course, love it!

ShrinkwrappedGarbage

As I go through my CD collection, merrily re-ripping, I occasionally come across a CD such as this, purchased in 2001, but still in its shrinkwrap.

As I recall, I had downloaded MP3s of the album prior to release, but still went out and bought the CD in order to assuage my conscience (and because it was only $12 from the good folks at Newbury Comics).

Music Science = Sexy

Purchased from Questionable Content, this is the official uniform of the [RhymesWithNose] "Applied Research" team.

I try to make everyone’s day a little more surreal.

Just starting to work my way through the fabulous The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, and loving every second of it.

Patience

Seven games left in the season, the Sox and Yankees tied for first, and we're stuck in a rain-delay.

Update: Arse. Game got postponed to lunchtime tomorrow.

Randombaconshot

Needed to test something, so here's a shot of Bacon in repose.

‘Not a significant source of iron’

I picked up a couple of bottles of Irn Bru today for the first time in ages. I would never have thought to describe it as a 'carbonated citrus fruit drink'. I'd go with 'sugar, caffeine and orange colouring that *stains*'

Updated to add: Aha! Upon closer inspection, this is the label Barr use specifically for the US market (the FDA nutrition panel should have given that away). That explains the bizarre disclaimers for my adopted crazy-ass-litigious homeland.

My new plates

Come the end of the month, these will be attached to my car. It just takes a $40 donation to the Jimmy Fund, every two years, to get Sox plates.

David Ortiz is a pussy

His salsa only comes in Medium? Wimp!

BBC America’s coverage of the terrorist attacks in London

... has been discontinued to bring you the scheduled interview with Jennifer Connelly about her new movie.

I have not the words.

Crappy phonecam fireworks shot

Segway ‘Walking Tour’

Spotted practically following us around San Francisco. We particularly appreciated that riding around on Segways didn't make you look enough of a dork, so they fitted you out with reflective yellow jackets and helmets. Seeing them glide across the landscape was like a slowed-down Benny Hill chase, but without the buxom lasses or Yakkity Sax.

Palace of Fine Arts

They don't build 'em like this anymore.

San Francisco at dusk

The Rock

Upon seeing this, my colleagues asked for my Sean Connery impression. It'sh every Shcotshman's birthright to do a pish-poor Shean Connery impreshion. Yesh, indeed.

Some bridge or other

Round the corner, fudge is made

The Ghiradelli factory sign, San Francisco. Not an Oompa-Loompa in sight.

The Lord Rod Almighty

My credentials for MacWorld Boston. This is what happens when they let you specify any job title.

Basset on the move

There's nothing quite so awesome as bassethoundears flapping in the breeze.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

My original paperback copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, bought for me when I was five.

Two flavors: Cheddar & More Cheddar

Following this, look forward to my 31 flavours Ice Cream store featuring "Vanilla", "More Vanilla", "Yet More Vanilla", "Very Vanilla", "None More Vanilla", "Suspiciously Vanilla-y" and "Bugger me backwards with a broomhandle... It's Vanilla!"

Olde Fashioned Compact Disc Emporium

Sweet’n’Low and Mustard in one convenient tray

At the Golden Apple diner, Lincoln & Southport, Chicago. Choose wisely.

CIF

The Showcase stage at the Chicago Theatre Building.

XM in the armrest

On board the Airtran plane, you can listen to XM Radio. Really quite a nifty idea -- *Much* better than the usual dreck you get on inflight "entertainment"

iPod vending machine

Atlanta Airport.

Planning my weekend

Off to Chicago tomorrow for the Chicago Improv Fest. Busy trying to work out what shows I want to see.

Professor Bacon

Because we are bad owners.

MLB on XM

Rather nattily, the display on my XM radio shows the Sox score, so I can keep track of the game while driving, whilst listening to music on my iPod.

Boston’s leading Jesus-crazy

As much a Boston landmark as the Citgo sign, this evangelical half-wit is a regular sight whenever there's a sporting event or concert. He's our version of London's Winner or Sinner bloke.

That banner is new

Jim’s Big Ego play Bose

De-skunking Bacon 3

Thereby answering the question "If we decided to slit Bacon's throat, what would it look like?"

De-skunking Bacon 2

He is *not* happy with us right now.

De-skunking Bacon 1

Joy focused on cleaning him, while I unhelpfully stood around with my cellphone snapping photos.

Tomato Juice

Bacon barked at a skunk in the back garden tonight, and got sprayed. Not pleasant. A Google search pointed us in the direction of either hydrogen peroxide or tomato juice. This is what the corner store had in stock.

SoxTix

Hurrah hurrah! Our Red Sox tickets for this season arrived today. Roll on April 14th!

Citizens Bank’s new logo

Looks somewhat familiar, reminding me of my student days when the RBoS made my penniless days miserable. I wish Bank of Scotland or Clydesdale owned a local bank. I'd join in a flash!

New Toy

I treated myself to a new iPod, as I await our tax refund. This replaces the 20Gb 2nd gen one I bought in August 2002. I expect this one to be full within 9 months too.

Sunset on The Mountain

Lemon Jelly sticker

"This is our new album. It's not like our old album"

Stair navigation avec balloon

Bacon attempts to climb the stairs whilst gripping between his teeth a balloon larger than his stumpy little legs. Lots of fun to watch.

Bacon at his most puppyish

Mr. Dogg manicly rushing around chasing a big balloon, which has already become his new favourite toy. Until it bursts, which it is bound to do in about 5 minutes, the way he's attacking it.

Zach Dirt

Our nephew, Zach, in his stylish mullet wig.

Unique But Morally Dubious

The oldest T-shirt in my "collection", it was purchased from the short-lived Deadpan Magazine in 1994. Hrmm... Flickr has "Rotate" but no "Flip" control.

Tivo HME in Action

Playing the fab "Same Game" on my telly, courtesy of the TiVo HME demo.

Kinder ‘Internet Surprise’

Even chocolate eggs are internet-enabled these days. Go to www.magic-kinder.com, enter the "secret code", and get online-prizes.

$2,408 of damage

Unsuccessful braking yesterday morning, due to sheet ice on a bridge, has left me with a buggered-up hood, bumper and headlight. So this year, I've been a wash for my insurance company.

Car-cicles

My bumper's gained stalactites.

My first folding-chair parking-space-holder

A great Boston tradition. Let's see if my space and/or the chair are still there when I get home.

Reverse Clock

Another gift from my mum -- A clock which is confusing-as-all-hell to look at frontwards, but works rather splendidly on the back of our bathroom door.

Monster Munch

Another treat unleashed from my mum's suitcase: 28 bags of Monster Munch (22 of which are Pickled Onion flavour. Hurrah!)

Super Noodles

A treat from the UK, thanks to my mum -- 20 packets (in various flavours) of Bachelor's Super Noodles.

My T-Shirt Collection

That entire shelf is made up of my T-shirts -- The ones that I couldn't bear to part with. And Joy wonders why I need to buy more from Threadless!

Yeah, it’s a lazy dog-dangling afternoon…

Magnetic Insult Poetry

An Xmas gift from Mrs B

Linux on TV

I finally got around to hacking my Linux laptop to enable the SVideo out. Hurrah! Now I can watch UKNova downloads on TV! (The screenshot you see is MythTV compiling)

£1 = $7.26?

That's quite the exchange rate on these Cadbury's Fudges in Harvard Square.

Car Talk Plaza

My dentist's office is in the same building as Click & Clack.

Brrr… it’s a bit nippy out.

The bottle of water I left in my car last night has entered the solid state.

Joy’s New Purse

A super-classy gift from our super-classy chum, Kara.

Pies With Bling

The menu for a local pizzaplace. Can we get anchovies on one half, and bling on the other?

Testing the new cellphone

...whilst continuing the Bacon-humiliation.

Caffeinated convenience

Hurrah for Stop & Shop, who have now added cupholders to their trolleys.

Our First Christmas Tree

Wheaties Box

Breakfast of (World Series) Champions

Blackspot Sneaker

My Blackspot Sneakers arrived today. Hurrah!

Getting my electoral fix

One Commercial Break in a Swing State 4

Four political ads in a row

One Commercial Break in a Swing State 3

Four political ads in a row

One Commercial Break in a Swing State 2

Four political ads in a row

One Commercial Break in a Swing State 1

Four political ads in a row

Hooters: Delightfully shameless

I wish more of the receipts I submitted with expense reports had lovehearts drawn around the total.

And, regardless of what you think of the sexual poiltics of Hooters, the wings are fcuking delicious.

The glamour of St. Louis

My hotel is conveniently located right next door to the "Missouri St Louis Sewer Division."

Stop & Shop gets Sox fever

These signs were dotted around the new Somerville Stop & Shop, along with "Mrs Schillng Shops Here" ones.

Ugly shirt

A gloriously tacky shirt, given to me by my good lady wife to honour my birthday. Game 3 tonight -- GO SOX!

Donkey Konga

I, a 27-year-old fat bloke, spent a good half-hour tonight in Circuit City, shamelessly bopping and clapping along with Donkey Konga. It's bluddy ACE.

One window fewer

100% less radio too. Bah!

(They had no idea what my GPS unit was, though, so that remained)

Go Sox

Spelled out in fairy lights on a balcony on Comm Ave. OK, it's not as impressive as The Pru, but I have a shitty cameraphone.

Still Alive

Ortiz scores a homer

it’s a mite cold at Fenway tonight

Millar scores

They’ve called in the army

Apparently, the security team, Boston Police, and State Police weren't enough

Joy and Wally

The missus and the Green Monster

Passport Control

If they're going to insist on taking photos of every non-merkin to enter the US, then I'm gonna take a photo of them!

Mum and Ali enjoy a rocket ride

“Le Week-end”

Closed on Sundays.

wine as it *should* be served

Obligatory Eiffel Tower shot

The AZERTY Keyboard

My nemesis as I attempt to send emails. You have to press Shift to type numbers??

Layover in Iceland

22-0

My t-shirt for tonight's Red Sox/Yankees game.

MIT Geek Humour

If you don't know what IHTFP means, Google away!

Joy, at the Tragically Hip concert

I caught me a Doozer!