USA: Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day, which is a public holiday dedicated to honoring fallen US soldiers. Some folks are not all that happy about such a solemn day being used just to make up an extra 3 day weekend. They want to reverse a decision made in 1971 and celebrate Memorial Day on the same day every year, even if it is on a weekend!

Since this is my first US public holiday that initially made me gasp. I mean I'm all for honoring fallen soldiers but as a worker in the US I already have few enough holidays as it is (and I'm missing some pretty nice holidays from back home like Easter and ANZAC Day).

Fortunately they realise public support for such a move might not be forthcoming if the public holiday disappeared so they propose extending a different weekend as a substitute for Memorial Day.

I spent the day riding ferries and enjoying the sunshine, but I did still stop and take the photo above.

Movies: Pirates of the Carribean, At World's End

I must admit that I'd briefly skimmed a few reviews before going to see this movie today and they were generally pretty negative so perhaps that lowered my expectations, but I did enjoy the third in the Pirate's series.

I was disappointed by the second Pirate's movie after really enjoying the first, mainly because the plot really didn't seem that interesting in the second movie. Actually, I don't recall too many standout scenes in the 2nd movie, nor that much interesting character development.

This latest movie starts out with a hanging scene where many fundamental judicial rights (fair trial for example) are suspended in the quest to rid the world of pirates. Sound familiar to anyone else?

The pirates are none too happy about this and they rally together and attempt to release an ultimate weapon upon the pursuing soldiers. Nothing really too original there, but this is only the beginning.

Many of the reviews suggested that there were too many characters and too many subplots, but this was part of the charm for me. The witty dialogue was there, Johny Depp was great as always as Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom stepped up as a complicated couple trying make things work despite all the other distractions.

I don't think I'm giving too much away when I say that their exchange of wedding vows is one of the best I've seen in a movie and certainly one that the kids will appreciate much more than the usual long drawn-out ceremonies.

There were a couple of negatives - the movie is about 3 hours long with previews, which is perhaps 1/2 an hour too long and the ending fizzled just a little compared to the rest of the movie, but all up it was well worth seeing.

Overall: 7/10

IT: Top 3 Blogs I Read

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about how I was cleverly generating a list of the blogs I read. Unfortunately the server the list was uploaded to is no longer active and I'm not using Akregator much for reading feeds so I'm going to list a few manually.

Before I write the list, this is how I read the blogs:

• Internet Explorer 7 builtin RSS Reader - it's not too bad with a smallish number of blogs. I use this at work mainly to keep up with a bunch of MSDN blogs.
• Firefox - Again, builtin reader. Good for a small number of feeds.
• RSS Bandit. A decent feed reader although the interface isn't the prettiest. Good handling of larger numbers of feeds.
• Google Reader. Not bad if I need to see feeds on the road.
• Akregator. I sometimes use this reader on Linux. It is good for large numbers of feeds.

Any readers I'm missing? What do you use? Why?

So these are my top 3 at the moment (although they fluctuate a bit):


Robert Scoble. Prolific ex-Microsoft blogger who also does some cool videos for ScobleShow. He's almost like an aggregator for tech news and trends.



Coding Horror. Written by a rare breed - a developer that can write code and blog articles. He covers a broad range of technical issues, often from a UI perspective.



Kennysia. A Malaysian blogger who writes in an entertaining style and comes up with some classic quotes and doctored pictures.

What are your top 3?

Random: A Change Is As Good As...

My move from Canberra to Seattle this year has definitely meant a lot of changes. Some have been unpleasant and time consuming like filling out all the paperwork for Visas etc. etc. but for the most part it has been a good change.

I just noticed that my previous post means that I've already written more blog posts this year than last (and we're not even halfway there). I think this is a good sign for me because I have more to write about and that generally correlates with the number of new or potentially interesting things I'm doing.

I'm still not sure if I'll have the time or inclination to keep up two blogs so we'll see how things go in the next few months.

Seattle: Snoqualmie Falls

George wrote about Snoqualmie Falls a while ago after we first visited but I went back again with my folks on the weekend and it was nicer weather so I took a few more photos.

The top of Snoqualmie Falls. You can stay in the hotel shown top left.

One of the best things about the falls is that you can get there and park and you only have to walk for 5 minutes to see the view shown in the photo above. There is also a viewing platform which is a bit closer to the falls where you can get an even better feel for just how much water is falling. There isn't quite as much mist in the air as there is at Niagara Falls, but it is still impressive.

To get to the bottom of the falls you descend via quite a steep trail until you arrive at the river bank. The trail then follows the waterline back past a Puget Sound Energy station to another viewing platform. There is a short trip through a fairly tight cage area shown below.

The trail beside the Puget Sound Energy station is not for the claustrophobic.

The rest of the trail is very pleasant although it does end pretty abruptly some distance from the falls, presumably for safety reasons. Many people disregarded the warnings on the day we visited (not me of course) and went along a bit further to get the ideal photo.

Looking up at Snoqualmie Falls.

This was as far as I went with George last time, but this time we continued along the road a bit further by car to the small town of Snoqualmie. One of the first things you notice as you drive into Snoqualmie is the massive log cut from an old Douglas Fir that is resting on an old railway carriage in a specially designed shelter.

Douglas fir tree in Snoqualmie.

A little further along past some nice flowering gardens you arrive at the railway station shown below. There are a few old carriages to see and there is a little souvenir shop.

Snoqualmie Railway Station

I would like to go back again to catch a train that travels to Snoqualmie Falls because it looks like a scenic trip. One train arrived noisily while we were there.

The train to Snoqualmie Falls arrives. Strangely I thought of the quote 'That is the sound of inevitability'. You know the movie.

IT: Work Blog

OK, so you thought this blog was pretty nerdy right? Well I've just started blogging about work over here. I'm not sure how long this will last since just trying to do the actual work I have to do is pretty time consuming, but we'll see.

For now its all pretty basic and includes some information about what I work on, which is profiling and about the surprises C# gives me as a C++ developer.

US: Pay to Shop?

Imagine going shopping and instead of a nice (or not so nice) security guard keeping an eye out for potential shoplifters at the door, there is a bouncer facing in the other direction (out of the shop) making sure you have got ID to get into the shop.

Imagine now that you don't have the appropriate ID and the bouncer doesn't allow you into the shop even with perfectly good money to spend. Well you don't need to imagine this scenario if you shop at places like CostCo or Home Depot.

That's right, if you aren't a card-carrying member of either of those shops you will be turned away at the door, forced to spend your money elsewhere. I wanted to take a look in Cost Co recently but something about spending $50 to shop there just didn't seem right. Rationally you could argue that if you make up that $50 in savings by shopping there it is worth it.

Many other stores have frequent-buyer arrangements but usually they give you something in exchange for your repeat business. For example, you might get cash back after spending $1000 at a certain store. The advantage for the store is your repeat business and the advantage for you is the cash you get back for being a loyal customer. Consider also that many airline frequent flyer programs having joining fees and yet we still pay them for the privilege of flying. The upside here is that you can get free flights if you pay for enough flights.

The problem I have with the CostCo membership is that it isn't just a one-off fee. You have to pay $50 every year. You are effectively paying money to limit your own shopping choices, since having paid the fee you will be more likely to shop at CostCo in order to maximise the return on your investment. The upside for joining this not-so-exclusive club can only be the savings you make when you purchase items.

To me it also seems a little crazy for CostCo to turn away potential shoppers because they're not willing to pay the joining fee. Then again, the carpark was completely full so maybe I'm just missing something. Maybe the savings are just too good to pass up and the fee is just another inconvenience you have to put up along with full car parks and trolleys with squeaky uneven wheels.

Would you pay to shop?

Movie: 28 Weeks Later

I was going to see Next at the movies this weekend but I read a few reviews which suggested it was a waste of time to see. So despite being a big fan of Nicholas Cage, I changed my mind and went to see 28 Weeks Later, which is the sequel to the visually impressive 28 Days Later.

This time I didn't read the reviews (although taking a look now they are mostly positive) and I went, hoping to see something like the original. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed. I guess I should have noticed that none of the original cast was coming back for a second movie and that should have sounded the warning bells in my mind, but alas it didn't.

Before I go into why I didn't like the movie, there were some redeeming features. Once again some of the London scenes were spectacular because they showed some parts of the city creepily empty. I must admit seeing some of the London sites made me want to go back and visit again. It is such a cool city, despite the pollution and cost of living and other bad aspects that are present in many big cities.

So some of the notable sites were:

• Two of the characters traveling over the Tower of London bridge on a scooter
• Trafalgar Square, empty
• Oxford Street, empty
• Wembley Stadium all overgrown
• Canary wharf and the DLR
• Some interesting train stations that I recognised but can't remember the name of. Maybe one was Russell Square with the long walk round and round to exit

So anyway, about the movie. Well the story starts by recounting the experiences of Don (Robert Carlyle who starred in The Full Monty) holed up in a house in the countryside when the initial infection broke out. The camera bounces around frenetically (too much for my liking) as he fights off rage-filled infected. He manages to escape although he leaves his wife behind to save himself.

Fast forward 28 weeks and apparently all infected people in London have died of starvation so people are being brought back into London. Rather than being placed somewhere isolated the US army has cordoned off an area of London called Isle of Dogs which is a peninsula and can supposedly be secured and protected from any remaining threats.

Don is reunited with his children as they arrive on the DLR at Canary Wharf and they get to live in a choice apartment just near the subway station. This is where things fall apart. Here are a few of the problems:

• The children manage to get over the Thames by scaling a bridge. They are only sighted by a single sniper and are not stopped from escaping the containment line. Surely with the population decimated by a highly contagious infection they would have decent security.
• Don has an 'access all areas' swipe card and he uses this to get into a holding cell where his wife (who managed to survive, but is a potential infected) is kept. He goes through about 3 doors, but there isn't a single guard to stop him.
• When the infection breaks out again, the army response is to put all the civilians into a locked room and turn off all the perfectly good lights across the city. Sure, this adds to the movie's scary ambience, but it sure doesn't help its credibility. Yes, that's right, having everyone scared out of their wits in the dark all grouped together is a good way to contain an infection...
• The movie doesn't really go anywhere, except to the point where its ready for another sequel.

Overall: 3/10

Speaking of poor sequels, somehow Resident Evil is alive and kicking. There was a preview for Resident Evil: Extinction which is set in Las Vegas. At least Milla Jovovich is still in that series.

IT: Live Collections

Lately I've been using a feature from Live Search Maps called Collections. This is a relatively new feature (although surprisingly it has been around for about a year) that allows you to add markers, lines and regions to a map and to save them.

This is useful if you go cycling or running and want to record the route you took but don't yet have a GPS. For example, suppose you take a tour around the Microsoft campus in Redmond and want to record and share with others. Here's what I did:

• Went to Live page and opened up 'Collections'.
• Selected 'pushpin' and clicked to mark the start of the loop.
• Selected 'draw a path or a trail on the map' and click to insert nodes for the trail
• Double-clicked to finish.
• Added a region to mark the Overlake Transit Center.
  

The results are shown below.

Example Collection

You can select options for sharing, which will enable you to give links to others to take a look at your handiwork, like this.

The most useful feature for me is that the trails give you a length (e.g. 2 km) so you can map out how far you ran, walked or cycled without needing a GPS.

Tips:

• Don't press 'Esc' while making a trail or it will disappear forever.
• It is a good idea to save your work early because then changes will be autosaved as you go.
• If you make a mistake while making a trail, don't worry you can move nodes around or add or remove them to suit.
  
  
  
  Edit nodes by clicking on the path and then dragging the node.
  
  
  
  Add or delete nodes by right-clicking and selecting.
  

Things I'd like to see:

• Undo. I lost a few longish trails before I figured out what not to do and it was frustrating.
  
• Being able to switch units of measurement from miles to kilometers and back again.
• Better management of collections. Being able to duplicate collections easily would be good.
• Search for collections that are not shared. I want to be able to search some collections of my own that I don't want to share.
• Privacy feature - ability to make a public view of a private collection that doesn't include some parts of a trail and/or pushpins etc. I don't want to put collections that include my address up on the web.
  

IT: CompUSA Closing

Today I took advantage of some very enticing savings by shopping at one of the 50% of CompUSA stores that is closing. I managed to get 60% off the purchase of a new power supply for my computer. The purchase was necessitated by the annoying different power standards in the US. Wouldn't it be great if everyone had worked together to pick one standard for plugs, voltages and frequencies? Its all too late now of course.

Anyway, so apparently CompUSA just can't keep up with online retailers and new players like Frys. I was a little sad seeing all the empty shelves in the soon-to-be defunct store, but then again that's what the consumer wants right? People seem to want either the best price, which typically means shopping online, or they want everything all in one place, which means shopping at a giant store like Frys.

So far I've resisted buying too much online so I guess I'll be headed for Frys, Best Buy or Circuit City next time. For now I'll just enjoy my savings.

Sammamish: Traffic

In Canberra there are many intersections with traffic cameras that are used to catch drivers going through red lights and speeding through intersections. For the everyday commuter though they aren't very useful. The City of Sammamish has come up with a great idea of putting traffic cameras up and allowing them to be viewed via the web.

The Sahalee Camera view.

The East Lake Sammamish Parkway Camera view. If only traffic were like this on a weekday.

The cameras are located on the two major roads heading in/out of Sammamish, which should allow commuters to decide which route to take by quickly checking out the website. We can use these cameras in combination with the WDOT freeway traffic flow maps and cameras to alter our route to work. Alternatively we can decide the traffic isn't worth facing and we can stay at work a bit later or leave for work a bit later.

You can see these cameras better if you take a look at a collection I've created using Windows Live. I've also been playing a little with the other features of collections like the ability to add paths that have their length automatically calculated. I might write more about this later.

Smart placement of cameras to ease commuter traffic woes.