archive: bryce.weblogs.com

Bookmarklets: A Great Discovery!

[ 2.26 pm ] Looking up a word at Dictionary.com just now, I discovered a link to what proves to be a great reference of sorts: Bookmarklets. This site explains the mysterious magic of how to make links you can drag onto a browser toolbar (like the ever-handy Backflip one). It also has loads of pre-made ones. Worth reviewing when I'm not on company time...

A Good Day

[ 11.38 pm ] Days just don't get much better than this. I changed my sheets yesterday and slept in this morning. After a week of getting up early to battle the rush hour commute, waking up naturally -- and to sunshine -- was wonderful.
And that was just the beginning.

In our quest to visit all of the disc golf courses around Oregon, Matt, Jason & I explored two more today. The first one (Estacada Timber Park) badly needs some signs to help mark the course, but the charm of its tight, clever holes in a forested setting grew on us. The second one (McIver State Park)was expansive, official and swarming with activity. We had a bit of a negative experience on the first two holes with some other golfers who were taking the sport a bit too seriously. But in sum, the course was a great experience. The front nine were wide open and long holes. The back nine were more interesting and we paired up with a nice fellow who introduced himself as Bob. Each of us had some nice drives, putts and moments.

Then to top it all off, we headed for Vancouver for what's become an annual event: the late summer barbeque at Ethan & Cindy's. It was a small group this year, but a great time. You gotta love summer!

Internet Appliances failed, how 'bout Internet Gyms?

[ 8.20 pm ] The sun left us for a little while. I picked up the latest issue of Communication Arts today. It's the Photography Annual and it has some great stuff inside. And traffic was incredibly light compared to yesterday. Is everyone on vacation?

And a note on the times:

In an article about the fitness club at a new office building in a suburban market here: "each piece of cardiovascular equipment will have an instant, personal connection to the internet..." Geez, I still debate whether or not to go running with my trusty old tape walkman or not. For today's exerciser I guess multimedia is the new mantra.

I can't figure out if this is just the grownup version of kids playing video games instead of sports outdoors or another enabler of America's tendency towards workaholism. Thoughts? Let me know what you think.

Scandanavian Cards @ Hallmark! Wow!

[ 11.22 pm ] I started my new job today and I slept about as well last night as I used to the night before we went to Disneyland as a kid. I forced myself to go to bed early, so that I might be well-rested for the big day, and wound up awake most of the night excited for The Big Day. I think, to steal a catchy jingle from May Co. (Meier & Frank et. al.), "this is where it gets good." Indeed it is.

I went to a suburban Hallmark Gold Crown store over the weekend to pick up a few cards and was amazed to see they now stock cards in Norwegian, Swedish and Finish! I was totally blown away. I mean, honestly, how big is the market for American card buyers sending cards to Swedish speakers? Nevertheless, I was very excited by this odd discovery. Mindful of my Danish friends, I inquired if the company did Danish cards yet. Not yet. Sorry, guys! (Favor to ask of friends: the next time you are at a Hallmark store, inquire what languages your store carries. I'd like to explore this a bit more...)

A second thing occurred to me while I was out: just how pervasive Muzak truly is. As I walked out of Hallmark mid-song and into another store, I realized that I was still listening to the same song. Seamless Customer Experience: 1, Musical Variety: 0.

[ 11.52 pm ] It looks like Moira made it to Europe. She writes a note from Paris. Oh, to be traveling again!

Finding Song Lyrics in Everyday Living

[ 10.28 pm ]
Dad, Bryan and Lee left for Alaska today to go salmon fishing without me and Karen moved home for a few days.

A line was said tonight in our house that, out of context, could make a great song lyric. 15 minutes of fame to the first person who can craft a song around this line:

"standing on 140 / naked in the morning"

Addendum

Confession: I feel so disconnected lately. When I was still in school this spring, I scanned a variety of news sources several times a day. Now that I'm home and without my fast ethernet connection, I spend more time thinking about the hammock I hung on Monday than what's going on online.

I made a quick visit to an old standby, Scripting.com and got a bit worried. Dave Winer is suddenly posting his third grade picture and has culled through his 1997 archives (why this, why now, Dave?) and rereading media commentary about Microsoft et al. cast a bleak shadow. With Windows XP looming, the flap surrounding Kodak's concern that XP steers its customers away from Kodak services is only the latest escapade. Things are looking bad I'm afraid.

Which is why I was so happy when I saw this DaveNet piece...

DaveNet: "What makes Blogger unique is that it's quickly driving developer and user adoption of XML-RPC. It's as close to a killer app as we're likely to get...Sometimes leadership makes us take the low road, through patents or other lock-in strategies, but imho that's when they are leading through fear, not power. It's always right to be compatible, and it's even better to plan for it, to design for it, commit to it."

Paying a visit to The Nando Times, the first quality news site I discovered on the web many years ago now, I came across this article:

How Apple changed the future of computers which provides a nice reminder of the PC landscape in 1981.

Addendum II

A quick jump over to Blogger found 2 intriguing links. I'm linking them here so I can check them out the next I'm online and not so tired.

NextDraft: "As he calls it, it's "dinner party prep"—must reading for those of us who care what's going on in the world, but don't like to spend a lot of time reading the newspaper (and like our news delivered with more personality than Dan Rather)." Thanks, Ev

Tracking Bloggers with Blogdex: "MIT's Media Lab is experimenting with a tool for indexing the most popular hypertext links across thousands of weblogs and has ambitious plans to turn it into a resource for the mass media."
Thanks again, Ev.

Starting to Live Deliberately

[ 11.00 pm ] Advice from a friend tonight: "Never trust a man who spells Ed with an O (Oed)."

If you're wondering whatever happend to the end of my EuroTrip01 tales, let me know and I will find time to publish them for you. I want to publish the end so the journey is complete, but -- in short -- a variety of events in my life recently have conspired to distract me.

And so, with the off-the-wall advice above, I humbly mark the return to a simpler, briefer style in my weblog. A few weeks ago, a close friend of mine shared what he now believes is the key to true happiness: "Do What You Want To Do." I am in complete agreement and will, henceforth, update my blog when I want to. Freedom. What a wonderful thing.

Addendum: I know I have still not made good on my promise to publish the remaining entries from the last few weeks in Denmark and Sweden. I really wanted to and there were many special experiences to share, but the turns that my life has endured since this trip have simply not allowed for this to be a priority. I will leave the door open for publishing the final episodes someday, but probably not anytime soon. Sorry. -bp

Denmark: Copenhagen - The First Time

Days 12-21: Scandanavia [This entry: Days 12-13 Copenhagen]

On Couchettes

In my experience there are two configurations for 2nd class couchettes: the kind where there are simply 6 beds in a room and the kind where there are 6 seats facing each other that cleverly morph into beds. In the first (more common) design, it is important to have a clear strategy in mind before you board the train because space is at a premium and you have nowhere to go but to hunker down on your bunk. In the second design, however, genuine conversation is possible between travelers—and in a comfortable setting, too. We lucked out and had the second kind going to Copenhagen and even had a wonderful Danish couple to share it with. We chatted about Italy (where we had both been), Jutland (the mainland of Denmark), European affairs, the USA, its relations with Mexico and Native Americans and how the world is becoming so much more global every day. It was nice.

Denmark At Last

The next morning we awoke in Denmark and arrived at the central Copenhagen train station. When I had called Soren the day before, he wasn’t sure if he or Anna would pick us up. Neither was on the platform when we stepped off the train. A man went rushing by and Maria asked if that was Soren. Suddenly for a moment, I questioned myself: Would I remember what Soren looked like? I hoped so. He had, afterall, stayed with Anna & I for a week this spring. Just then, I saw Anna wave and I knew we would be in good hands, the best.

She whisked us home to her father’s flat in the heart of the city, to be our base camp for the next few days. We had a tasty breakfast of cheese and toasted rolls and coffee. She gave us maps, essential info (like our address!) and her recommendations for what to see. She also planned a homecoming/welcome that night with Karina, Soren and some of her friends. It was so nice to see her again.

Day 12: Copenhagen: The First Day

Maria and I took showers and headed out to seize the city. It was Wednesday and museums were free so we started there. First stop was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, which is considered the city’s finest gallery. It had an amazing array of Greek, Roman and Egyptian art, but what I seem to recall was a striking painting of a mandolin player. What wowed us the most was its beautiful atrium. Even if you skip the art, check out the atrium. From there we darted up the street to the National Museum, which was simply amazing in its completeness. It tells the story of Denmark from 80,000 years ago to present, one room at a time. Science, history, culture, religion, it was all there. I learned a lot at that place.

Random Discoveries

A sampling from my notepad: I saw a skeleton from an Aurochs, apparently the largest animal around 80,000 years ago (bigger than an elephant!), a c. 5500 BC vintage fish trap that was ingeniously simple and learned that the earth could feed 2-300M people when agriculture began. And now we’re at 6 billion? That’s some serious productivity growth. I learned that geometric patterns began to be preferred about 400 AD. Most amazing was that the Vikings were first mentioned in Room 20 of 23, around the 830s AD. I had no idea there was so much pre-history in Denmark. Greenland was cultivated by Denmark in ~950s. And King Bluetooth united Denmark in 980 and made Christianity official. I can only wonder if today’s contemporaries will be able to achieve the same glory with Bluetooth wireless technology. Brick making was imported from northern Italy ~1156. And Room 24 smells just like my orthodontist’s office used to. Strange but true. You don’t forget scents like that. The coolest sight was clearly a 1656 “cylinder perspective” – it had a distorted image painted on a cylinder that when displayed on the wall made a perfect picture. Now that is an art form that takes some serious talent!

I can’t share what the modern era was like because we nearly got locked in the 18th century. With doors shutting in our path, we decided to escape. On the way home, we watched a polite British street performer warm up the crowd with his bicycle antics and I had my first sausage with a spicy ketchup that I would spend the rest of our time trying to figure out. They have curry ketchup here! Rather than our bi-fold buns in the USA, the Danes have a major design innovation in their hot dog buns: a solid bun that they stick the sauce and dog into from an end, ensuring no run-a-way dogs. Maria and I made a salad to go with dinner and had our first adventure at the grocery store, trying to price and label our produce, decide which of the various Carlsberg and Tuborg beers we wanted to buy and carry our groceries home without any bags. Oh, and it suddenly started raining really big drops. Luckily we lived just a block away from ISO. Anna made chili con carne for dinner – really tasty, but I teased her about its Danish authenticity. We had about 8 people over and everyone seemed to be having a great time when my friend Thomas rang. Would we like to do dinner Friday after work? Definitely.

...And All That Jazz

That night we went out to see Nicolaj Bentzon play piano in the Black Diamond, a high style architectural marvel of a library (with lots of glass, hard surfaces, atrium and flat panel computers). It was, after all, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and there was jazz everywhere practically every hour of every day. Big names, too. Ray Charles had given a concert just a few days before. The concert was low key but packed and I just kept thinking: this would never happen in America. Here we are out on a weeknight at a LIBRARY listening to live jazz with a full bar behind us. Heck, the Minister of Culture was even in attendance. A lady who apparently has said sport is like sex: fun to participate but not to watch. A major blow to sports business. Rick Burton: respond?

After the concert we dropped into a place called Drop In. The scene was lively, fun and a live band was mixing Dixieland with Classic Rock and Roll. The girls danced. Soren & I chatted. Learned some trivia about Nicolaj Bentzon: he is the son of the guy who composed the DSB train chime that you hear on every DSB train service in Denmark. In case anyone ever asks…you heard it here first.

Day 13: Copenhagen: The Second Day

Design Sounds

Thomas had told me about the Danish Design Center and I wanted to check it out so we did. It’s a very cool place if you are at all interested in design. They had an exhibit on Design Sounds that was simply amazing. You would never believe how much thought goes into how a product sounds when used and how that affects usability and your perception of the brand. They had ovens with playful chimes for Italy and precision sounding ones for other places (Germany?). They had tactile pillow speakers—a very cool idea. Basically, imagine if your big overstuffed huggable pillow could be a wireless speaker, too. Imagine the fun at parties. "I think you might like this tune...here, [throw pillow] take a listen...." They also had this far out multimedia exhibit called Stockholm Soundscape which I didn’t totally understand and a bunch of designs for cell phones done by design students studying Information Ergonomics (a field I didn’t know existed!). Maria had a lot of fun and I was in heaven.

They also had a fun exhibit on typography from www.e-types.com, which made me think of Moira who once led off a weblog entry by announcing the availability of a new typeface.

A Walk Across Town

After the DDC, we spent the afternoon in the pedestrian area where we encountered an unbelievable amount of activity. Maria, trying to create an audio record of our travels, had a good selection of street performers to record—reggae, accordians, brass, a young girl on drums and more. There were tons of cool shops (B&O, Georg Jensen, Magasin, 5 stories of Bodum & more) and lots of sales, but we didn’t go in to any. Just trying to get across town was hard enough. When it rains, the streets empty ASAP. The people just evaporate. As soon as the sun returns, so do the masses.

We happened upon an amazing outdoor photography exhibition of the Earth From The Air that was truly a wow. To my Danish friends: definitely check it out before it leaves in September. Always one to sample the local cuisine, I indulged and had a crepe filled with chocolate, fresh bananas and coconut. Yumm.

By the time I’d finished my crepe, we had managed to meander to Newhavn—the most picturesque part of Copenhagen and into the middle of a Dixieland jazz concert. The music was great, the buildings were colourful, the canal was packed with its ships and and the scene was truly great for people watching. I snapped some pictures and then relaxed to just soak up the scene. I didn’t want to leave.

But, alas, we had plans to go out with Soren that night and so we headed home. On the way we discovered a Peruvian group singing Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence.” It was at once both very cool and very odd. Knowing my dad’s oddball musical taste, I bought one of their CDs and Maria bought the other one.

Jazz Night II

We met up with Soren’s friends at the pupenhuse, an old firehouse turned concert hall. It was incredibly hot and the air was thin, but the night was fun. We met a couple moving to San Jose to join a dot com, a guy named "Life" (presumably spelled Leif) whose girlfriend looks just like someone I once worked with at The Barometer from tiny Elmira, Oregon. The concert featured the same musician we had seen the night before, but in a full band and the style was radically different.

Singing "Maria, Maria..."

After the concert and a few rounds, Maria and I made motions to head home and "rest" for our trip to Malmo, Sweden the next day. No way they said! Soren and Leif even broke out in chorus "Maria, Maria..." to beg us to reconsider. I nearly died laughing. They were dancing and singing and everything. It looked rehearsed but seemed totally spontaneous. At any rate, we couldn’t refuse. And so it came to be that I rode with Soren on a bike for one across town, over cobblestones and on to our destination. Our weight distribution was at times precarious and he once clipped my heel with his foot but we made it there alive. The couple bound for San Jose I would find out had only been married a week before and had – in a bid to do something original -- made their wedding invitations in a photomat booth. They reenacted their courtship in four quick poses and did it all in one take. A hilarious idea. And everyone loved them!

The night ended with a mixture of jabs about going to Malmo, friendly hugs and best wishes all around. Ah, to be in Denmark among Danes. What a wonderful thing!

Next Up: Malmo, Sweden tomorrow.