Towse: views from the hill

March 24, 2007

Archival nit pickiness

Filed under: SJTblog — Towse @ 9:21 pm

Revamped my archives. Made the drop-down reverse order so the latest archives are first. Changed archiving to monthly archives so the list isn’t so lengthy.

Thanks to roveberg for the bloggerhack.

Something for that someone who has everything

Filed under: misc — Towse @ 6:37 pm

Something for that someone who has everything or maybe something for Mom that isn’t a plaster handprint or copper-plated baby shoes.

Pirolette = major coolness

$149.95 + S&H is pricey but what a conversation piece!

March 21, 2007

[URL] Tax Tips and Resources for Writers

Filed under: information,URL,writing — Towse @ 7:05 pm

DRO has posted her updated “Tax Tips and Resources For Freelance Writers” over at InkyGirl.

Here’s my annual updated list of useful tax resources for freelance writers. Sadly (for me, anyway, since I live in Canada), most of the info is specific to the U.S., but I did manage to find some info specific to Canada and other countries, listed below in the “international tax info” section partway down this list.

I was unable to find ANY tax-related resources of use to writers outside of North America. Suggestions welcome! [...]

Google adds "themes" to your Google homepage

Filed under: app,webstuff — Towse @ 6:10 am

I like plain ol’ vanilla Google. It works. It’s simple. No fuss. But earlier today, I decided to just check out the various themes that Google has developed for its Google homepages and settled on “city.”

Very nice. Mellow. The colors and accoutrements change with the time of day and weather. (You need to give them a ZIP for it to work properly.) Right now it’s shades of purple and blue with stars and a crescent moon. Nice.

My one concern is that the Googlelogo is a single, set color.

What happens when it’s George Orwell’s bday and the Google logomeister comes up with a spiffy logo-for-the-day?

All that remains to be seen, but the cityscape is nice and I’m enjoying it.

March 18, 2007

[YOUTUBE] Hillary mashup

Filed under: politics,video — Towse @ 7:34 pm

The YouTube Hillary mashup made it to the front page above the fold of today’s Chronicle.

Found two versions at YouTube:

Short: Vote Different (1:13)

Long: VOTE SMART: a warning to all women about hillary clinton (5:14)

Obama’s campaign sez they had nothing to do with it. Others are pointing fingers to the same folk who brought us the Swift Boat Veterans.

Being as the presidential primaries don’t kick off until the Iowa caucuses next January, it looks like it will be a very interesting tit-for-tat election this time around.

Update: Above the fold, front page, SFChronicle today (20 Mar 2007) as well, with a buzz buzz article about who might have mashed it and why. A Rove device to slam Hillary and catch Obama in the crossfire with one swat?

Have you watched both videos? I think the short one is more effective. The long one just goes on and on and on, well past my patience. I believe the long one is a revamp of the short one. Who co-opted the short video? Wonder what the original masher thinks of that?

Update2: Archer has a link to a Barack 1984 video. As I commented there, Too bad the Clinton supporters are so lacking in originality. They’re ripping off a mashup, for pete’s sake. Do your own clever thing, peoples. This just looks petty. And stoopid.

March 16, 2007

[YOUTUBE] Middle Ages Tech Support

Filed under: books,video — Towse @ 4:26 pm

[via hisnibs who received it in e-mail from SueJ. Thanks, Sue!]

March 15, 2007

Monday’s walkabout: along the GGNRA Coastal Trail: dinner at the Cliff House (12 Mar 2007)

Filed under: life,photographs,restaurants — Tags: , — Towse @ 2:27 am

Monday, his nibs wanted to go do something and the weather was fine. We decided to walk the newly furbished Golden Gate National Recreation Area Coastal Trail from China Beach down to Ocean Beach and see what we could see.

Walked down to Washington Square Park and caught the 30-Stockton to Union Square where we transferred to the 38-Geary and rode it all the way to 33rd, where the bus turns south off Geary onto 33rd. We walked across Geary and up the hill past the Lincoln Park Golf Course

Lincoln Park Golf Course

to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Legion of Honor

Sure, we could’ve waited and transferred to the 18, but decided to take the walk instead.

From the Palace, you walk past the Holocaust Memorial and turn east, walking down the drive on the far side past the Peace Memorial and further until you get almost to China Beach, where you see the signage for the Coastal Walk. There you begin.

We had a great walk. Beautiful views. Wonderful smells. Lovely day.

We stopped for a while at Mile Rock Beach and admired the balanced stone piles people had made,

stone piles

watched the waves crashing

waves CRASH!

and checked out the container ships coming into port.

Hanjin and Mile Rock light

We arrived in mid-afternoon at the ruins of the Sutro Baths and stopped off at the Cliff House to use the facilities and check out the gift shop.

Didn’t buy anything, but we did see a stack of FINDING FAULT IN CALIFORNIA, written by our favorite geophysicist.

FINDING FAULT IN CALIFORNIA

His nibs was talking about sticking around until dinner time and eating at the Cliff House, but it seemed too early for dinner, so we walked down to Ocean Beach

view from the Cliff House

and over to the Safeway to make sure we knew where we could catch a homeward bound bus after dinner.

We headed on to the Park Chalet for a Chalet-brewed beer.

Imagine our delight to discover that beers are $1/each from 3p-closing on Mondays. Our lucky day! We sat on the steps outside in the sun and took advantage of the Monday offer.

Later, we headed back to the Cliff House and scored a table in the Sutro dining room. The place was busy but not crushingly so.

The food was delish. The staff was capable and friendly and gave good pretence of enjoying their jobs, if indeed they didn’t.

Appetizers:
(me) Dungeness Crab “Sutro” roll (4 pcs) with unagi and avocado
(his nibs) Crab Cake “Louis” (2 cakes) with butter lettuce and Louis sauce

Both were excellent. We swopped halfway through.

Main:
(me) Applewood Bacon crusted wild Salmon with Truffled Potatoes, Bloomsdale Spinach, Calvados Broth, and verrry thinly sliced apples.
(his nibs) Swordfish with a yummy sauce, sliced new potatoes, spinach

Again, both were excellent. We kept saying to each other, “Who would’ve guessed the food here would be this good?” There’s the old standard warning: if the view is great, don’t expect the food to be too. We were delighted to find out the Cliff House not only had a view, but great food too.

We had a Calera Chardonnay with dinner, in honor of the Calera winemaker’s dinner we’d been to at Pres a Vi in the Presidio last Wednesday.

I took at least half of my salmon home and made a meal of it yesterday. Portion sizes are generous.

Caution: After the sun sets there’s nothing to see outside. Wander along the beach and watch the sunset and then eat, or ask for a table that allows you a view of the sunset at dinner.

For dessert his nibs had the custard trio: Butterscotch Parfait, Pistachio Crème Brulee & Tangerine Crème Caramel. We shared that along with a glass of Bonny Doon Vin de Glaciere Moscato, one of my favorite dessert wines.

After dinner, with my little box of salmon in tow, we walked down the hill and caught the 38-Geary back to Market & 3rd, where we caught the 30-Stockton and home-again home-again riggety jig.

Note to self: remember the $1 beer Mondays at the Park Chalet and the relative ease of public transit over to the delish food at Sutro’s.

The complete set of shots from Monday’s walk is here.

March 14, 2007

Found at Cliff House on Monday (12 March 2007)

Filed under: books,life,quakes,San Francisco — Towse @ 6:47 am

A long ramble (perhaps) to follow about our excursions on Monday and dinner at the Cliff House.

Suffice to say, that we were pumped to find one of Hough’s books

at the Cliff House gift shop when we stopped by to check out the merchandise before dinner.

March 11, 2007

Gavin Newsom chatted with Dave Morey and his wacky gang yesterday morning

Filed under: media,podcast,politics,San Francisco — Towse @ 1:10 am

Gavin Newsom chatted with Dave Morey and his wacky gang at KFOG‘s Morning Show yesterday morning.

I missed the show live but downloaded KFOG’s podcast/mp3 of the show and listened to the yack-yack this afternoon.

Why read other people telling you what Newsom said when you can take a direct listen?

March 9, 2007

[BLOG] Today in Letters

Filed under: blog,books,history,writing — Towse @ 1:04 am

Today in Letters: Letters and Diary Entries from this Day in Literary History.

Today (08 Mar) brings us

Lord Byron: March 8, 1816

A letter to Thomas Moore.

I rejoice in your promotion as Chairman and Charitable Steward, etc., etc. These be dignities which await only the virtuous. But then, recollect you are six and thirty, (I speak this enviously—not of your age, but the “honour—love—obedience—troops of friends,” which accompany it,) and I have eight years good to run before I arrive at such hoary perfection; by which time,—if I am at all,—it will probably be in a state of grace or progressing merits.

[...]

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