Now that Sarbanes-Oxley is under control, where will the accountants go?

Amsterdam! To the Red Light District, no less. No, this isn't a bunch of bean counting suits going to brothels and strip clubs to celebrate the end of a big project. The brothels in Amsterdam seem to have their own accounting difficulties.

In an article titled Amsterdam Curbs Prostitution 'Windows', the Guardian Unlimted writes "City officials ... are shutting down nearly a third of the 350 prostitution "windows'' in Amsterdam's famed Red Light District as part of a crackdown on crime."

Evidently, the less than stellar accounting practices in the brothels makes it hard to find "reputable accountants are often unwilling to work with them, making it difficult to keep correct books" which opens them up to illegal practices like "money-laundering, or other illegal financial activity."

So, all this is where the accountants need to go! They've got to have great work place benefits and when they have company parties - dude, they must be ragers! And I bet if the accountants got laid more, we wouldn't have policies like Sarbanes-Oxley forced down our throats.

Snow day 3 in the Issaquah School District

We are having our third snow day in a row! It looks like it is warming up outside, but there is still snow on the ground and ice on the street (at least in front on our house). However the snow days appear to be coming to an end, so says the Issaquah School District.

UPDATE

Issaquah Schools and all school-related activities are once again cancelled today, Thursday, November 30.

Although roads in some areas of the District are ice free, many roads remain treacherous to navigate. While we want students to return to classrooms as soon as possible, we put their safety first.

We expect school to resume on a normal schedule tomorrow. Thank you for your flexibility during the storm.

Sorry kiddos! Enjoy the last day!

Opera MINI browser on a phone

As a MINI owner, anything mini catches my eye. As a tech geek, anything techie catches my eye.

Opera (the alternative browser people) have a version for mobile devices, Nintendo devices and now a Java based one that will run on my phone. How cool is that! Plus, I also like coffee, so java catches my eye too.

So, this browser is supposed to pre-process web pages in order to optimize them for viewing on the small screen. It also folds long lists, again to make them better to view on the small screen.

My phone already has a browser, but it doesn't really connect to the Internet, just some dumbed down and cleaned of any formatting version that Cingular provides. That browser doesn't really get me anything other than headline news and weather. So, I've been looking for something like this.

The browser seems a little slow to load initially, but then responds pretty well. I'm not looking for the greatest internet experience, but one that fits in my pocket anywhere I go. I know there are limitations on the cellular network and such a small screen.

I tried it out and went to the mobile version of Remember the Milk (my phone browser won't take me there). It worked! I was able to view my tasks and everything. It didn't do so well with the full featured AJAX version of the page, but hey, I'm on the phone.

It is great that this kind of processing power (and research too - preloaded with Wikipedia search box) can be packaged in such a small device. This is one step closer to ubiquitous Internet access. Now I need a better data plan on my phone!

The Opera Mini browser is available as a free download and a link can be sent to your mobile phone.

How do you read my blog?

My wife has been playing with Feedburner RSS feeds on her blog and I was wondering:

How do you read my blog?
Directly read posts in a web browser
Feed aggregator (bloglines, google reader, etc)
Other
Current results

Coming home to the snow in Seattle

My trip home wasn't uneventful, but I got home and that made me happy. The office in Glendale is pretty close to the Burbank (aka Bob Hope International) Airport, so I was able to get there quickly. I had some time to spare, but I couldn't remember my T-Mobile wi-fi hotspot account user name, so I responded to emails off-line.

About thirty minutes before the flight's departure time, people started lining up. Normal practice on South West, but I was flying Alaska. It was weird. And then, in another display of strangeness, they announced that they would load the aircraft from the rear to the front. It makes perfect sense. I was sitting towards the back of the plane, so I got to get on quickly - all those people in line had to step aside.

The airline also announced that our "non-stop flight to Seattle would make an intermittent stop in Sacramento to refuel." Evidently, the winds were high and we needed to take off on a short runway. With the plane as full and heavy as it was, we wouldn't have made it with a full tank of gas. It delayed our flight by about an hour. It sucked, but there were some advantages. Fewer crazies on the streets when we got here.

Listening to the news, I expected it to be a real challenge driving home. It was 19 degrees outside and my MINI needed snow brushed off and the windows scraped. The driver side door handle had frozen shut, so I had to crawl in through the passenger seat. I was happy because I found a watch cap in my trunk and the seat heaters were warm!

The interstates were all clear, but wet - obviously salted or some thing done to keep the ice from forming. As I got closer to Bellevue on 405, there was sometimes a build up of ice between the lanes, but people drove appropriately. It was no big deal.

Once I left the interstate, it was a different story entirely. I don't think the roads in Issaquah or Sammamish were salted, plowed or otherwise. There really were cars just stopped in lanes, abandoned. I even saw a car with tire chains abandoned on the side of the road. I had no issues driving, stopping or turning - my MINI is front wheel drive and that makes a world of difference.

The roads were icy but not undriveable. I can see that school buses would have difficulty and school was canceled again (text message received while I was on the airplane letting me know school was canceled today).

It is supposed to snow more tonight and record lows are supposed to be broken. Ah, this is really winter! I like looking out my window and seeing snow covered bushes, lawn furniture and mountains. I like this.

Snow day!!!

At 4:10 am my phone started ringing, receiving a text message. School is canceled! But darn it, I'm not there!

I understand it was pretty nasty at home yesterday - it took over 2 hours to get home from swim practice last night. I hear that there is over 8" of snow at my house!

I hope they stay warm and enjoy the snow.

Post holiday travel

This was written in my Moleskine while waiting for my flight to Burbank to take off.

Since we moved to Seattle (and kept my job in Oakland), I have started to travel quite a bit. Today, I begin a series of trips. For the next three weeks, Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday, I'll be somewhere else.

But with all this traveling, I've begun to notice some things about my fellow travelers.

Usually, the first flight of the day is primarily business travelers. Sure, try to carry as much in a carry on as possible, but they are ready or laptop screening or already have their gels, liquids and toothpaste in a ziploc bag. They move through security quickly. They get on the plane and pull out the Wall Street Journal or Fortune magazine.

This trip is right after Thanksgiving weekend. These travelers are different. I'm on the first flight to Burbank, Monday morning and this plane is full of college students going back to school. College students have the same gadgets as business travelers, but the security lines are slower. Instead of business publications, it is text books: Introduction to Neuro Science, Italian Songs and Arias. Instead of leather briefcases, it is nylon backpacks and messenger bags.

This trip was oversold - something I haven't seen in a while (since my last ill fated trip right before the Fourth of July). Unlike what I've seen on Airplane, the guy who was bumped was polite and understanding as he was moved to standby on another oversold flight. Considering that he was at the end of the jetway, almost on the play, his behavior was pretty exemplary.

As we wait for de-icing, the plane has a certain quietude to it, sort of like a library: the rustle of papers, an occasional quiet whisper. Which decays as we roll into 15 minutes late for departure.

Remember the Milk integrated with Google Calendar

Remember the Milk has been my to-do list manager of choice for a while now. It has some really great features:

• Reminders by Instant Message, email, text message
• Multiple lists with priorities
• Create to-dos via email or text message
• Share or send tasks to others
• Publish your task list via RSS or iCal
• Supports the use of tags on tasks
• Tasks can be associated with URLs or locations and laid on top of a Google Map
  

It easily integrates with Getting Things Done and I use this service on a daily basis. On top of all that, it is free. On a daily basis, I live and die by my RTM task lists.

But they have taken it one step further. Google Calendar has some functionality to display web content. Google has created some calendars that show the weather for your location or the phase of the moon. Emily, Omar and Bob T Monkey at RTM have just released RTM for Google Calendar. It uses one of these web content calendars to show your tasks that are due on a particular day.

It gets even better than that! You can add and complete tasks as well! From the looks of it, it is based upon their recently released Google Gadget for the Google personal homepage or Google Desktop sidebar.

Remember the Milk is an excellent Web 2.0 task list. Though still in beta, it performs excellently and the team keeps adding new functionality and is quick to provide support! I can claim identifying at least one bug.

I recommend this service. You should use it. Google should buy it and integrate it into their services.

Thanksgiving day re-re-visited

We had a free turkey from Safeway.com!
So we did it again tonight; turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing. It was an abbreviated Thanksgiving day.

It is still snowing!

So, it has been snowing since about 4:30pm. The snow flakes are pretty big and it doesn't look like it is going to let up. I'm going to the airport tomorrow morning, so we'll have to see how it is then (maybe I'll get a mo-blog off).

But the kids are enjoying it!


Here is a longer one! And for those of you privacy minded (paranoid) this one isn't in the public search! How about that!

Keeping the reflexes honed

Chase: Dad, I want to show you something upstairs.
Me: Okay, let me grab my coffee.

Chase leads me upstairs. Up the stairs strewn with stuff they have thrown about.

Me: I hope you don't want to show me the dirty stairs.
Chase: Lets out small laugh

As we reach the top of the stairs, the boys leap out from the either side of the landing, armed with light sabers. Only then, I realize the thing that she was carrying was a samurai sword.

Quickly, I put my coffee down and grab the arm of the littlest one. I can use him to block their attacks, while I disarm him, so that I can begin the best defense - an offense.

My skills as a swordsman allow me to drive off the three attackers and give them the admonition, "It is okay to ambush me. Just don't let me bring my coffee and make sure I am armed."

Yes, this is my house.

Postscript: As we walked back from the after Thanksgiving games, our kids ran ahead and turned down our street before my wife and I made it. I noticed the littlest one, darting from bush to cars in driveway, using cover and concealment and 3 to 5 second dashes to get to our house. I'm not sure who he was maneuvering on or if he was moving tactically to remain hidden from us, but he is practicing good techniques. Start young!

We've had snow!

For the last two days, when I wake up, there has been snow on the ground at our house. Not a measurable amount, but only collecting on the colder parts of the ground (no grass, on top of the shed, etc.).

This is interesting, for our second winter, because this time around it is all happening earlier.

But in true Seattle fashion, it is here one minute and gone the next. The snow will have melted by 10 am and most likely the sun will come out.

Yesterday, I left the house at 7:45 to take Alec to swim practice in Kent. By the time I was half way there, the roads were dry and I wished I had brought my sunglasses. Such is life in the Northwest!

Today, it is quite windy. Hopefully, trees stay upright, the roads stay open and the power stays on!

Help defend me from false claims of libel

My wife has made public claims that I have libeled her, by writing that her Sweet Potatoes were actually Sweet Potato Casserole.

The Free Dictionary has the following definition:

cas·se·role (ks-rl)n.

1.

a. A dish, usually of earthenware, glass, or cast iron, in which food is both baked and served.

b. Food prepared and served in such a dish.

Is this blue dish a casserole?
We're putting this one to the people of the internet! Help defend me! Feel free to comment here or on the accuser's blog.

Zagat guide for Seattle

I am a big fan of the Zagat's surveys. No, it isn't about listening to the voice of the people; I think that the Zagat's survey's are good honest reviews. My opinions are similar to the that of the combined reviewer, so I must have something in common with the Zagat demographic.

One of the many things that excited me about moving to Seattle was that it had its own Zagat guidebook. I'm pretty good about reviewing restaurants that I've been too. And I'm not ashamed to admit it, I like the fact that participants in their surveys get a free copy of the guide for the area that they reviewed.

Over the years, I've gotten the San Francisco and Seattle editions. This year, they didn't publish a Seattle guide. In one way, that makes me sad, sad that there aren't enough participants or restaurants reviewed to make a full guide book. But on the other hand, they sent America's Top Restaurants instead. I'm okay with that. I've been doing some more traveling lately, so having a more encompassing guide book is attractive.

But get out there residents of the Northwest! Review restaurants on zagat.com. Even if you do it for the free book! There is such great food here in the Northwest.

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving Day, shared with lots of friends. And when I say lots, I mean on the scale of what our family gatherings were when we were in California.

We were invited to some friends' (made by way of kids in the same class) house, then to the movies (warning: movie spoilers included) and then to another family's house for dessert and games.

We shared the dinner preparations; Heather and I brought Risotto with Butternut Squash Pancetta and Jack Cheese, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato Casserole and Pumpkin pies. The rest of the nice dinner was prepared by the Sansings.

It was never my family's tradition to go to the movies after Thanksgiving dinner, but it was Heather's and evidently the Sansing's as well. I now understand why it makes a good tradition - two dessert courses.

Usually, I would eat a gigantor dinner and then a gigantor dessert and then I would just want to roll into a corner and take a nap. This time, I ate a gigantor dinner, followed by a moderate dessert and then a break for the movie. Then, I was able to come back for a second dessert after the break. Twice as much dessert!

We went to see Happy Feet as our break movie. The first half of the movie was pretty cute, about Mumbles the penguin was different (he couldn't sing and couldn't find his heartsong, but boy could he dance). Then it started to get dark and environmental and political as Mumbles went on his quest to find the aliens who were taking all the fish. Mumbles even ends up in a zoo after floating up on the beach in front of an oil refinery. It got dark enough that I was really wondering how they were going to get back to the cute penguins and finish the kid story.

After the move we went to another house and there were easily 50 people and kids there. There were tons of desserts and I didn't see my kids from the moment they walked in until they were told dessert was going to be put away.

I met a whole lot of new and friendly people and even played adult games. No, not adult games, but games with adults! No Hi Ho Cherry O here!

One of the really nice things about the day was getting to see other people's houses. Our house is pretty plainly painted on the interior, all white walls, white carpet. It is nice to see what other people have done in terms of earthy reds, greens and yellows on the walls. I think that this has also helped us decide that we want to replace our kitchen counter tops with granite. Yep, that is quite an expensive project, but we are thinking about it seriously. I'm sure it will turn into a blogging series.

Happy Thanksgiving to every one!

Tea and sweaters

I'm getting old! Or, if you ask my wife, I'm turning into my parents.

Since it has started to get cold, I've begun to wear sweaters. I have desires to drink tea instead of espresso.

I was bummed out at the last pre-school meeting because there was some Chai, but I didn't get to have any because we shortened the break time.

This morning, I had some espresso when I sat down to work, but promptly decided I wanted some chai tea. Strange.

Or maybe it is just winter time and I'm compensating for the cooler weather.

Confessions and coercion

I haven't ran in a week and a half. It started the previous weekend; we stayed up too late and didn't have Alec come to swim practice last Tuesday. I slept i and that was the breaking point. This morning, it was raining and I just didn't feel like it.

That is my problem. I like to run but sometimes I just lack the motivation to get out and do it. Then, I take advantage of the little things (like the rain or the lack of sleep) to get out of it.

That's my confession.

I know I won't be running on Thursday either. There are pies to be made and risotto and more. We'll be sharing Thanksgiving with some of our friends in the neighborhood, so I'll need to run afterwards...

On to the coercion part:

Last night, I went with Heather to the monthly co-op preschool meeting. I volunteered to go with her (maybe with the hope that we'd go out for coffee afterwards). During the meeting, the teacher leaned over to me and asked me, "How did you get coerced into coming here?"

Heather was at the meeting and sure, there were only Mom's there (the lone father who was attending the meeting came late).

No coercion here!

I must be careful

Now that Heather blogs, my every action and innuendo is available for public scrutiny. Btw, other than the boobie flash I didn't get lucky this morning.

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

It's a record week!

Because I get up so early, I was able to get a jump on a blog review/comment of a new Google feature. This time, my blog posting actually linked to the Google Blog entry and it made it on the trackback list.

Having my posting there brought me record amounts of traffic. I had 69 pageviews, just on Thursday! If only I could get 69 every day!

So far, this week is topping out at 123 visitors and they didn't all read one page and leave! Four people actually read my post about Google and read other pages! I'm pretty excited about that. Maybe I can covert 1 of them into a regular reader... Well, I can hope.

On the other neat factoid, these visitors came from all over the world! The United States, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, Germany, Austria, Philippines, Malaysia and India all were represented in my visitors. That in it self is pretty neat.

To the early bird go the visits!

Civic processes

The city in which I live has been planning on building a Town Center for a while (in strategic plan from 2002) and is now in the public feedback portion of their development plan. Last night, I attended a public meeting to discuss... something - maybe the amount of retail space and the potential sales tax revenue. I dunno.

By the way, the Director of Community Development, Kamuron Gurol, is an excellent facilitator. I was impressed how he was able to respectfully answer people's questions even when he didn't have an answer or was walking back in the process many steps. I had a flash back to high school civics when he was explaining the length of the public feedback process to some woman.

But I digress. I really wasn't there for the Town Center project. My wife is somewhat interested and involved with it. I was there because we were planning on going out to coffee afterwards. Now that is a way to get people involved with civic processes - tempt them with hot dates with hot women!

It turns out that Sammamish rolls up the sidewalks at night. At 9:30 pm, most everything was closed! So, we'll try again for a date, but this time not one involving civic processes!

She's gone and done it now!

My wife, Heather, finally did it! No, we didn't try out that freaky new position in the latest Cosmo, she started a blog!

I've been suggesting that she blog for a while, because she has an outlook, which is sometimes funny, sometimes inflammatory, and always all her own - all of which contribute to good blogging.

You can also tell we are related. On her first day of blogging, she talks about pooping, much like I spoke about being regular. And as you will read there, some of the things I have made comments about, she has commented on (or even planted the seed).

Welcome to the world of blogging, Heather! I love you.

Now, instead of watching TV together, we can blog together. Isn't that romantic?

Now if only I can get her into texting and IM....

Google's done it again - click to call

Google has introduced one more neat feature on Google Maps - Click to Call!
Read about it here. And try it out - it really works.

There are several services like this, JaJah is one that charges a small fee to connect your phone to somebody else's (but does it internationally). This is a great step in telephony and computing and just being connected.

Already, through VOIP, if you call my work phone, it gets forwarded to my home office and simultaneously rings on my cell phone. With instant messaging, VPN and wi-fi, any place with internet and cell phone connection is just the same as my office.

I don't use any soft-phone service like Skype, but I am tempted. I still like being able to walk away from my computer and through a smaller more portable device (like my cell phone) still be connected.

Google recently launched Java based Gmail client for phones and it works on my phone. They also just released Google Maps for mobile devices. They both work great, although I need a bigger data plan.

This is what Web 2.0 and 3.0 are going to turn into. Sweet.

Power is back!!!

Update: Heather just called me to say that the power is back.

Now it brings up an interesting question? Will they un-cancel school? They've communicated the closure via email newsletter and the school district website...

I think that they can't un-cancel it.

Power outage!!!

Yesterday, I spent the day at the MINI dealer (Northwest MINI) with my car in service. It wasn't bad (the day) because I was able to work at the dealership. Not working on cars, but they have wi-fi in their customer waiting area and several desks at which to work. They even drove me to a restaurant to pick up lunch. About 4 pm, I was out of there, my credit card debt a lot higher and my MINI all fixed up.

There were several things that needed some fixing, so it added up. But that's not what all this is about. That was just setting the stage.

Evidently, the power at my house went out at about 1:30 pm, yesterday. When I got home, after waiting at swim practice, the power was still out. This was at 8 pm. I had talked to Heather and she asked me to bring home something fast for dinnner. The main road in was also closed because trees were down, mingled with power lines.

We ate by candle light and shortly there after went to bed.

Because I was out all day, my cell phone had died and my laptop battery was low. Both of these, I was planning on charging at home! I have a watch, that I rarely wear, that had an alarm. I have never used the alarm on it before, so I'm a little wary of trusting it to wake up.

The power was still out when I woke up at 5 am. I heated some water for Heather and the kids on my backpacking stove so they could have hot oatmeal or coffee instead of just warm oatmeal or coffee. We headed out to swimming - where I knew the power to be on - 3 cities east of us. The road was still closed, but the power was on on Mercer Island.

I'm writing this post from here and charging my cell phone while I wait.

The power is out at my kid's school (it is right in our neighborhood, so on the same power lines). While poking around on the web, I found a really cool school emergency notification system. It is the Public Schools Emergency Communication System and seems to be somehow affiliated with SchoolReports.org. They show emergency information for school districts and have email and pager/text message notification! Pretty cool! Our school is closed today!

I'm going to have to figure out how to work today (or if I really need to work today - I haven't checked my calendar yet). There is wi-fi at the library, some stores in Issaquah and yes, of course Starbucks.

It will be an adventure.

I'm so proud

For two days in a row, when I've woken up my 4 year old (5 in January, for perspective), he has gotten out of bed and started to make his bed! He has also taken off his pajamas and put them in his laundry basket!

For the quality control people, yes, two days doesn't make a trend, but it starts one!

Cascade Ridge Veterans Day Assembly

At my kid's elementary school, there was a Veteran's Day Assembly today. It was a nice assembly, the kids sang patriotic songs, read some writings about why they are proud to be Americans, and honored veterans by singing the service songs.

There were 8 veterans representing the Army, Air Force and Navy, and they all had some connection to the school, either parents or grand parents. As one of the parents/veterans, it was a nice display. The kids all performed very nicely.

It also made me think of a lot of things. Firstly, my wife had mentioned that this would never have happened in California. Sad, but I agree with her. Our schools never did, but I also think that the political climate is different in California. Secondly, whenever I hear the "patriotic" songs, it makes me think of all the people I know and I don't know who have served. Sure, I served, but I was in a peace time army, nestled between the Gulf War and current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have an understanding, and maybe a better understanding of what our soldiers are doing, but I still don't know. But what I do know, is that it is tough, dirty and requires a lot of sacrifice, both on the personal front and for all of their loved ones.

I'm glad I live in a country where we are free. We have so many things, things that we see as everyday, that others don't have.

To those who have served, thank you.

Integration with other Google products

I wrote and tried to post this from with in Google Documents and Spreadsheets when I originally wrote it.

Today, after writing about some funny news article, blogger told me that they now support posting from Google Docs and Spreadsheets! So, this is the test of it. If you are reading this, it means it was successful. If it isn't succesful, I'm not going to re-write this (or copy and paste).

Gmail just added the feature to be able to open spreadsheet attachments with Google Docs and Spreadsheets! Nice feature, no need to download to my PC and then open them with Excel upload to Docs and Spreadsheets to view them.

I like how Google (and other Web 2.0 businesses) continue to add new features to their products. This is a good development in software evolution. Who wants to wait 4 or 5 years for the next version? Why not add features incrementally?

Now, they need a better name for Docs and Spreadsheets - I've written it too many times in this posting.

This is a way to collect taxes

Dancing eunuchs taxing red-faced shopkeepers

Check this out. This is some way to collect back taxes. It sounds like state sponsored sexual harassment. It is a strange world.

Now the thing that I find most interesting...

Eunuchs are still common in India, where they live in closed-knit communities. Some are castrated men but others are transsexuals and hermaphrodites who have been ostracized by their families.

Also known as hijras, they are widely feared and move around towns and cities in groups and demand money on occasions such as marriage or the birth of a child. They are believed to have occult powers.

So, in all actuality, the government hired a bunch of thugs (or at least people that inspire fear) to go out and induce people to pay up.

In the US - black helicopters, windowless vans, SWAT teams kicking down your door.
In India - bands of eunuchs.

Get your quivering beaver at Burger King!

This post is rated PG. Although, there is adult humor cleverly concealed in here.

Some times, when you go to a really fine restaurant, the food can be described as causing intense emotional excitement.

That same experience can be reached at Burger King. Yeah, that guy looks kind of creepy, but hey, he must do it for somebody.



This is the promotional toy for Open Season, some new animal themed movie. I want to know what the moose will do!

I have an innie

It took some coaxing. I have an innie belly button and it took some coaxing for it to want to make an internet appearance.

The belly button now works as it should!

Don't stick your finger in my belly button

Evidently there are sites where you can create your own buttons.
Here is my button and my belly button. Yes, this is really a link to my belly button. Every time you push it,. it makes me feel weird.The link goes to the site that helped me create it, but it is really all about how the cursor changes.

Edit: I posted this really quickly, because I had to rush my kid off to swim practice.
Here are some more links:
Button maker
Steal These Buttons!
Brilliant Button Maker

Thanks omninaif and Helen for turning me on to these sites!

Wishing it were the weekend

When my alarm went off this morning, I started to think through what I needed to do today and if I could afford to snooze the alarm (for 7 minutes). I thought about how I needed to wash the kids soccer uniforms for their games, how the soccer games didn't overlap and the games weren't until 11 o'clock or so.

No need for me to get up right away.

I went back to sleep for my 7 minutes and when the alarm went off the second time, I realized it was Friday, not Saturday morning.

Drat.

And so, I'm up.