Looky down

For some reason my post that nearly got away was put in chronologically–when I started it, not when I published it. Anyhoo, blah blah..see below for pictures and such.

Geek Gods

My laptop did the unforgivable and totally died a violent death on the weekend. Leaving me with a half-finished post stuck in cyberspace with nary a line out to get it. Damn you, Apple. Do not make delicious-looking computers that have Toshiba insides that suck! Luckily I had an external hard drive with most of my files. Don't worry–I still got Madonna's 'Holiday' if anyone needs it.

Anyway, open hard-drive surgery was undertaken by an expert geek without many of the tools required and it is now feeling better. That is one benefit of living in SF. You can't spit without hitting a Mac-genius-level geek. I lost some of my latest files for a freelance project, which I'll have to re-do, but I am taking that as a doofus tax for not backing up enough. Just in case you need it–Back up! Backup! Back up!

So being without my iBaby this weekend with no other computer in the house was more than unsettling. And it got me thinking. Who is emailing me? What is happening on Perez Hilton? More importantly, what's so-and-so's address and where am I meant to be tomorrow? No freakin' clue. Why? Because hard copy and grey matter memory are turning into one of those quaint nostalgic things we'll remember from the good old days, like good penmanship or cassette tapes.

In a post-apocalyptic world I imagine us all wandering around aimlessly; we can't remember how to do anything or go anywhere without Googling it first. We're hoping against hope that some geek can put together a PC with 3 paperclips and some chewing gum, MacGyver-style, so we can EBay some bread.

It wasn't my intention for this to be some kind of Luddite tirade, but I wonder if in our rush to embrace the Web we might not set ourselves up for some sticky situations. Meanwhile, I am seriously considering a paper datebook.

The post that nearly got away:

Here's a bit of a round-up of the things that I've been up to as of (kind of) recently:

Took a trip out to the Google Campus in Mountain View to partake in some top-secret paid user study for Blogger. OK the study isn't so top secret, but what they asked me is, so my lips are sealed there. Suffice to say there's heaps of cool things going down for Blogger. Woooo. Also I scored two juices and some snacks from the waiting room. Booya! Every trip to Google is delicious. Pictured is the seating area servicing some of the 14 free restaurants on-site.

Took a trip to Palo Alto, near Stanford to get some dinner. Ended up at Cafe Del Dogge a home, nay headquarters, for coffee snobs. It's part of an Italian chain, so things are pretty damn...Italian..inside. The baristas for one (good) the menu for another (bad). I'm no good with coffee after dinner so I got a hot chocolate. Even my friend the ardent coffee snob and Italophile, who's been there heaps, managed to get confused amongst the three kinds of hot chocolate and ordered the above. Looks good right? Tasted like...well, gooey 70% dark chocolate. Looks a LOT better than it tastes. Call me an infidel, but dark chocolate is a culinary deal breaker for me.


Other strange but more potent drinks to be found at RoHan Lounge, where we went for some birthday drinks. What it lacks in curb appeal it makes up for in atmosphere inside. The music is a nice level for conversation and the bartender was cute (OK not so much an objective view, but still). Being a fusion kind bar, the drinks are Asian-themed. I can't fault them cos they had a drink named after me, which was nice of them to do. The Ming totally kicked my butt though, so I guess I should be proud that even as a mixture of beverages I am strong.


And finally, here are some banana crumb muffins I made. They kicked ass if I do say so myself. The crumbs on top are basically sugar, butter and cinnamon, so deliciousness is guaranteed. A few steps to fatty-boombah-ness is probably also guaranteed, but what's life without some luxurious baked goods.