Moving: The Aftermath

Mar 3, ’10 4:46 PM

So, on Monday I moved into a new apartment with my sister. Geographically we didn’t move far, but I’ve learned over the years it isn’t the distance that determines the difficulty of the move, it’s the poundage.

I have way too much stuff.

My old apartment was huge, in retrospect, especially for just one person. There was a lot of storage space, so I never considered not buying something because it wouldn’t fit in my apartment.

This has led to my current situation of trying to move into a new place with at least 33% too much stuff.

Anybody want a coffee table?

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Blogging Without Blogging

Feb 25, ’10 12:24 PM

… there’s no such thing.

I have picked up some new projects since last I blogged — one for a start-up non-profit in Brooklyn that aims to improve science education in public schools, and one for a large, well-known publication trying to bring their web site into the new decade.

The budgets for each are very different, and my role on each is very different; each will be both easier and harder than the other.

But both of them are very cool, and I’ll get around to telling you about them some time. :)

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Facebook, building walls without anybody noticing

Feb 11, ’10 4:43 PM

So, Facebook is officially the new AOL. A post on ReadWriteWeb about Facebook’s new collaboration with AOL’s authentication system somehow became one of the top Google results for “facebook login,” and the result was hundreds of Facebook users stumbling onto what they assumed was a “new” Facebook, confusing the heck out of many FB users:

The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN.

I WANT THE OLD FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!

I was just learning,why would you mess it up?

This event is likely to be remembered for a long time as the moment when we (the “savvy” users) were reminded of how ignorant many users are about the general workings of their web browsers, and the web in general.

And that Facebook is the new walled garden.

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This is not your father’s snowstorm.

Feb 10, ’10 11:42 AM

As I write, I’m looking out the window at the snowstorm that, yesterday, caused NYC to close schools and businesses to declare snow days.

12 hours after the snow started, I’m looking down on clean streets and a light dusting of snow falling.

Maybe it’s just because I’m from Wisconsin, but I don’t think so: we got our knickers in a twist over this?

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Expectations of Food and Comfort

Feb 4, ’10 5:06 PM

While headed down to Union Square for lunch today, I knew that one option would be eating at Republic, a noodle shop I like a lot. Unfortunately, I was on the fence about actually going there because of the weather.

It’s a beautiful day, but it was quite brisk out, and if you haven’t been there, Republic is a very open restaurant with lots of concrete and flat surfaces. I’ve only ever been there in the summer, and it has always been very cool on the interior, which perfectly suits the fresh food on its menu. The restaurant in my mind has always been a cold experience — as I pictured it in my head I had a hard time integrating the desire to eat good noodles with the desire to not be cold.

In the end we decided to eat noodles, and Republic defeated my expectations by being incredibly warm on the inside. Not just warmer than I expected, but distinctly warm, with the prominent sound of a heater working hard to fill the big space with heat.

Part of me wonders if this isn’t a deliberate choice on their part, to counteract the impression of a cool interior space by overheating it just a little. One practical side effect is, being so warm, the diners are free to choose from the entire menu — I had expected to have to restrict myself to the hot items on the menu so as to counteract the coldness within myself.

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