Here's another one. Holy moly!

 

I told Wendy once that something I really love about living in the Mission is that one is surrounded by all these bright colors. Look at this! Even in the dark tail end of December the trash is colorful, dammit!

This was taken with my fancy new camera, by the way. Thanks Google.

 

"What use is a White Christmas if you can't get there?"

So indicated Steve this morning, referring to the Holiday Blizzard 06 of Colorado. Wendy's there at the moment, and me booked to fly tomorrow---but with

• a State of Emergency in Colorado
• the airport closed
• three feet of snow

I'm not so sure.

Ideas?

A scientist goes to God and says, "We don't need you anymore. I can create a human from nothing more than a handful of dust."

"Alright then, let's see," God replies.

"No problem," says the scientist, and he bends over to scoop up some dust.

"Hold on," God interrupts. "Get your own dust."

This isn't one of mine, but I liked it:

I've just uploaded the rest of the pictures from Fort Collins yesterday.

Today, back again in San Francisco, having gone away, for the second time in a week. Went for a walk up Bernal Heights, swam at the gym, went on a fruitless shopping trip downtown. But wandering round outside in a t-shirt is the way to spend late November. I like California.

Couldn't resist posting this, taken today in very autumnal Fort Collins:

 

Dave Boot emailed to provide a datapoint to complement my post a couple of months ago (dammit where's my permalinks when I need them?). Quoth Dave:

One out of three US people is heavier than the other two combined

which I rather like as a statistic.

At first it sounded nonsensical to me, but I guess it means that the heaviest third of America's population weighs more than the other two thirds. Amazing! Could this be true?

Another week completed at the new place and another celebratory photo. This one again taken in Healdsburg last time we were up there.

This week I bought a Garmin Edge 305, a super-nifty gadget for my bike. Seriously amazing technology; plus integration with online mapping stuff, allowing me to (for instance) link to a bike ride I did at lunch the other day. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Wendy and I also bought flights to Denver for Thanksgiving, which feels awful festive. Especially considering I put the heating on in the house today for the first time in months. Summer's over in the City, but happily has a while yet to go in Mountain View.

 

Week three at the new place complete, and another celebratory photo. This one was taken up in Healdsburg in early July this year. Wendy and I were staying up there with Matt and Mary on a brief vacation.

 

Just finished week two at my new employer, so here's some more hammocky goodness from Cozumel to celebrate.

This was one of the most enchanting and serene places I've ever been. We were on the east side of Cozumel in Mexico. White sands, Caribbean Sea, and a handful of hammocks.

 

Just back this evening from Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was truly delightful.

Oh, and on Monday I'll be starting work at... ahem.

 

Here's another picture from Beijing. We got to the Forbidden City after it had already closed, so we went to an adjacent park to see if we could climb a hill and see in. We couldn't, but the park was gorgeous.

 

I met Tom today. I was being measured for a new shirt.

It was quite an amazing confluence of incongruities®:

• a blogging Saville Row tailor with 19th-century shears and his Google Calendar up on his laptop sitting atop a pile of cloth;
• two blokes from the North of England meeting for the first time in a fancy hotel suite in San Francisco;
• a bespoke shirt being made just for me, of all people...

Thanks Wendy for a cool birthday present!

Statistics:

• In the United States, since 1980 the share of overall income going to the top 1% has doubled from 8% to 16%
• 22% of Americans believe in evolution; 69% believe in angels; 46% believe they have a personal angel
• 2 people each month jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, making it the most popular place in the world for suicide

I'm thinking Emperor Chongzhen needs a better publicist:

 

Ahh... wise words as ever from the Chinese:

It sure is a slippery slope.

Thanks to JP for providing the link to this hypnotic video. This is exactly how I remember it. It also reminded me to post the link which Matt sent to this inexplicable chaos.

I'm sat on my flight to China right now, posting with new-found 2.5G-and-Bluetooth technology. Nice! Congratulations to Sue, whose new book was reviewed in the Times today.

I was at at&t in New Jersey yesterday, and discovered two things:

• at&t folks don't find jokes about the NSA funny
• you get REALLY good Cingular signal at at&t head office. T-Mobile, not so much.

Off to China tomorrow. Beijing, then Hong Kong. Then Singapore, then back home. I have no idea what to expect.

Absolutely the oddest thing ever. Maybe. Drag the girl around with your mouse:

I've finally got around to posting some photos from Thanksgiving in Truckee. That's rather pathetic, but better late than never...

We also did some high-speed photography at the show. This is Paul popping a Balloon and looking very serene:

Went yesterday to the Maker Faire with Matt and Paul. It was really very cool. Woz was there organizing Segway Polo; saw fire, robots, some beautiful art, lots of fascinating interactive exhibits, great engaging people, loads of kids having fun.

I also saw a woman making some very photogenic neon tubing:

Took this one a while ago down by the Atlas Cafe.

It's Wendy's birthday today and we're headed to Vegas...

We went up Bernal Heights yesterday. What a strange place that is; a grassy lump of earth in the middle of the city. Rather pretty in the sunshine, though, and nice views.