Feb 282009
 

I try to travel to Seattle at least once per year. There are at least a dozen or more friends of mine who ended up in Seattle for one reason or another, and it’s always a pleasure to see them. I’m always amazed by how quickly time passes–until I just did the math right now, I didn’t realize that I’ve known many of my Seattle friends for almost twenty years!

I flew to Seattle from Las Vegas for $80 on Virgin America. It’s unclear to me how Virgin America is making money. The flight was terrific, but it was also only half full. I had to switch planes in San Francisco, but I didn’t mind. I enjoy Virgin America’s flights.

I visited Seattle well before their terrible winter storms that shut down most of the city–if anything, it was unseasonably warm, pleasant, and dry. Seattle rarely has the torrential downpours of the northeast, but it frequently is covered by a gray, steady misty drizzle of rain that manages to float underneath any rain coat or umbrella. Which is why many Seattle residents never carry an umbrella.

One of the places I visited in Seattle was the Zig Zag Café. Several folks had recommended I go there, including Jim Meehan from PDT and Eryn Reece formerly with Bar Milano. The Zig Zag Café is located on the hill between the Public Market and Elliott Bay, just next door to a taqueria and downstairs from where the Spanish Table used to be. (Hey, if you know the shops near Pike Place Market, it’s a perfectly good description.) Jim specifically told me to be on the look out for Murray Stenson, an award-winning friendly and talented bartender. He wasn’t there the first evening I visited, so I spent some time chatting with one of the other bartenders who worked there and Kacy Fitch, one of the owners. It’s an elegant dimly lit bar with a tremendous selection of liquors, beers, and cocktails. There are many tables, but it’s a popular spot and fills up quickly. The staff is warm, friendly, and unpretentious.
Zig Zag Café, Seattle Zig Zag Café, Seattle

Of course, I had to visit the Zig Zag Café a second time to see Murray. It was worth the second trip out there. Even though the place was packed, Murray took the time to say hello and recommend some other good restaurants in the area. I was walking around the waterfront area before going to Zig Zag, and I saw one of the most spectacular sunsets I had ever seen in Seattle. Friends of mine who were out agreed that it was a rare sight.
Sunset over Elliott Bay, Seattle Sunset over Elliott Bay, Seattle Sunset over Elliott Bay, Seattle

While I was in the Pike Place Market, I stopped by World Spice Merchants. World Spice Merchants has been featured on television shows like Alton Brown’s Good Eats. They have a very large selection of teas and spices; in addition to their retail and mail-order businesses, they also supply restaurants around the Seattle area. I feel that the folks there are more knowledgeable and passionate than the folks who work at a typical Penzey’s retail outfit. And that’s saying a lot: the folks at Penzey’s are smart and dedicated.
World Spice Market, Seattle

From a food perspective, no trip to Seattle would be complete without a trip to Salumi next to Pioneer Square. Salumi is a salumeria, a place where meats are cured and salamis are made. The store is divided into several parts: in the front of the store is a very small seating area, followed by a sandwich line and cashier, then a small seating area and a small kitchen. Beyond that there is another intimate dining room. Finally, the curing rooms are beyond the final door.
Curing meats at Salumi, Seattle

Salumi was opened by Armandino Batali after retiring from Boeing where he was an engineer. Last year, Armandino turned over the shop to his daughter, Gina Batali, and son-in-law, Brian D’Amato.

One of the best features of visiting Salumi is purchasing sandwiches from the counter. Most of the sandwiches are served on a nice white rich and not-overly tough sandwich roll with a variety of spreads and sauces. The tongue sandwich is one of the best sandwiches there: it’s served with slow-cooked soft onions and two spreads. (I believe one was a garlic spread, and one was a pesto spread.) I also had sliced fresh mozzarella. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.
Tongue sandwich at Salumi, Seattle

There’s more photos to come from my trip to Seattle.

 Posted by at 1:47 pm
Feb 252009
 

A coworker noted this video explaining how we came to the current economic crisis. It’s worth watching, especially if you have some confusion regarding the different acronyms and terms being thrown around.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3261363&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis.

 Posted by at 7:15 pm
Feb 172009
 

Before joining in Google in December, I decided to do a bit of traveling. One of the places I visited was Las Vegas. I had heard a lot about Vegas from many friends; it seems to be a love-it/hate-it type place. One friend described it as a “cultural wasteland.” Another friend described the ideal trip as no more than two nights–fly in one evening, spending one full day there, and leaving on the third day. I decided to stay four days.

Las Vegas reminds me of a theatrical set; there is a flashy, shiny veneer on top of rough poured cement and two-by-fours. The decorations are reminiscent of famous places, but they simply don’t match. For example, consider this fountain which is clearly influenced by Trevi Fountain in Rome:
Fake Trevi Fountain in Las Vegas
I’ve been to the real Trevi Fountain. The real Trevi Fountain is elegant versus kitschy and made of stone versus poured cement. It is also twice the side of the Las Vegas knockoff.

The kitschy theme continues along the strip. Consider this image of New York, New York:
New York, New York in Las Vegas
As someone who lives in New York City, this casino hurt me. The Brooklyn Bridge is reduced to a flashy venue for advertisements; instead of dazzling people with its majesty and grandeur, the version in Vegas is nothing more than a scale model with neon. What is supposed to be the Chrysler Building is unrecognizable. The real building is a elegant and stunning example of Art Deco architecture. The Vegas version is a joke.

And don’t get me started on the Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower:
Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas

I stayed at the Planet Hollywood, which was perfectly acceptable as a hotel. It was $100 per night, but then they gave me $40 for “gas money.” Vegas has some issues with occupancy right now; the city felt empty.
Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas
On the way up to the hotel room one night, a woman walked up to me near the elevators and said, “How about $700 for 30 minutes?” Of course, I answered, “I think I’m worth more than that,” and walked away laughing. Incidentally, don’t stay through the time share presentation at the Hotel. It’s boring, too long, a hard sell, and most importantly, not worth $250 in chips.

The great parts of Las Vegas happened when the locations did not try to mimic another city or location. For example, the Bellagio was beautiful and elegant. I loved the water show in front of the casino.
Bellagio water show in Las Vegas
Bellagio water show in Las Vegas
I also loved the Chihuly installation in the lobby.
Bellagio Chihuly installation in Las Vegas
Bellagio Chihuly installation in Las Vegas
Bellagio Chihuly installation in Las Vegas

The Bellagio is home to a Cirque De Soleil show, O. A couple of friends recommended that I go to one of their shows, and I’m so glad I took their advice. (Thanks, Kristen; thanks, Todd!) This show was a spectacle on so many levels: it was artistic, athletic, funny, and surprising. The show has a stage that acts like a Trivial Pursuit piece; as each of the slices lower, they dip into water. The performers fly above the stage and plunge into the water; they dance with fire, and they throw each other across room. It was an amazing show, and if I had just seen that show it would have made the trip to Las Vegas worthwhile.

Another place where Las Vegas shines is in the food. On the low end of the scale in price but not enjoyment was In-N-Out Burger. There are no In-N-Out burgers in the Northeast, so I don’t generally have an opportunity to visit them. There burgers were some of the best fast-food burgers I have ever had. The most notable part of the burgers was the freshness of the lettuce and tomato. For most fast food joints, the lettuce and tomato are generally worth ignoring. But for In-N-Out burger, the lettuce was crisp and the tomatoes were bursting with flavor. I had a great time.
In-N-Out burger in Las Vegas
In-N-Out burger in Las Vegas

I have a couple of friends who work in the Batali/Bastianch restaurants in Las Vegas, and their food was kick-ass as well. Zack Allen is the Executive Chef of their restaurants there; he had previously worked at Otto in New York City. He is a brilliant chef whose talent for food is only matched by his organizational and management skills. The one dish I had at B&B; that rocked my work was a single large ravioli filled with liquid egg yolk. It was rich and decadent. I believe Chris Crocetti’s title is General Manager. He is also a warm and terrific person who hails from New York, and he works hard to make sure that his customers have a enjoyable meal. I had drinks one night at the bar and ate at the bar another night. The bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable. (I was not surprised; the bartender I chatted with had come from working at Babbo in New York City.)

I also ate at L’Atelier De Joël Robuchon. Joël Robuchon is a famous French chef; this restaurant is his “causal” cozy dining establishment in Las Vegas with a 36-seat bar and an open kitchen. The staff here was the epitome of French service: friendly yet reserved and knowledgeable without pretension. It was a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach; the open design allowed me to witness the calm, quiet ballet of the kitchen. The dish I remember most was a sous-vide poached langoustine that was then flash fried in a light pastry with sage and a dollop of basil pesto. It had a rich flavor that managed to complement, not overwhelm, the delicacy of the shellfish. (I found a photo of the dish on flickr; the poster enjoyed the langoustine, but was not as impressed with the restaurant as I was.)

Low points of Las Vegas:

  • Kitchy
  • Fake buildings

High points of Las Vegas:

  • Traditional casinos
  • Dining
  • Shows

I’m not sure I would want to go back to Las Vegas, but if I do, my friend’s advice about only staying for three days is worth taking.

 Posted by at 6:24 pm
Feb 172009
 

I’m on another flight from New York City to San Francisco on Virgin flight 25. Like my American Airlines flight a few weeks ago, this flight has Internet service from Gogo. The speed is still fairly respectable:
Speedtest from JFK to SFO

Shortly after I returned from my last trip to San Francisco, my Verizon Fios installation was finally completed. The installer was prompt and professional. Interestingly, it turns out that the last installer who visited my apartment could have done the installation; he did not realized that fiber was already pulled to my apartment. The setup for Fios is interesting. There are direct pre-terminated fiber pulls from the basement of my apartment building to just outside of each apartment. The installer drilled a small hole into my coat closet in the apartment from the hallway cable run.

The fiber was plugged into an Optical Network Terminal (ONT), which acts as a bridge between the fiber media and a choice of 100Base-T Ethernet, MOCA, or plain old telephone service (POTS). The ONT comes packaged with a battery backup. I was a bit surprised to see that only a single strand of fiber was pulled into my apartment–most of the networking I have worked with uses two strands of fiber. I am using the 100Base-T Ethernet connection to a wireless router; hopefully I will later use the coax connection for television. Verizon plans on introducing TV service to my building in the third quarter of 2009.

Here was the network performance with Time Warner Cable Roadrunner:
Time Warner Cable Roadrunner speed

Here was the network performance with Verizon Fios:
Verizon Fios speeed

I have had no outages with Verizon Fios, and despite the pain of scheduling installation, I’m very happy with the performance so far. Now I need to make sure that the sites I use to store files have sufficient incoming bandwidth. For a well-connected site, the performance is very good. I was able to download a 145 MB trailer for Watchmen with no noticeable delay.

 Posted by at 5:21 pm
Feb 132009
 

Telstar Logistics found a time-lapse video of a ship navigating through the Panama Canal. The entire video is captivating. For whatever reason, I’m fascinated that locks actually work.

A good friend of mine is coming back from Panama this weekend. If the photos on Facebook are any indication, I think she had a good time. Welcome back, APJ!

 Posted by at 3:50 pm
Feb 122009
 

I use Tripit to manage my travel. It’s a service to consolidate all of your travel plans. Whenever you receive mail from an airline, hotel, or other travel service, you simply forward the mail to plans@tripit.com. Tripit will automatically read all of the information from your mail and create an itinerary for you. It also allows your to share your plans with other people, and you can add the plans to iCal or Google calendar automatically.

Today, Tripit really saved me. I booked a trip to San Francisco last week for next Tuesday through the end of the month. Or so I thought. When I went on Tripit to view my plans, I saw that there were two itineraries: one for the hotel and one for the flight. This was odd, since Tripit will combine locations that occur on the same dates. On closer inspection, I was dismayed to find out that I had booked the flights for March instead of February; I hadn’t noticed earlier since the days and dates of February and March are identical!

I was able to rebook by tickets on Virgin America without paying any change fees. I only had to play a higher rate for the outgoing flight.

I would say that I was lucky to catch the mis-booked flights, but it wasn’t luck at all. It was the design of Tripit that alerted me to my mistake.

 Posted by at 11:24 am
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