Steve's Place

Decked Out

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:22:16 -0800

We turned what might have been a lazy Sunday into a very industrious one, getting The Aerie all decked out for Christmastime. We had the Christmas music playing from the office while we decked the halls and trimmed the trees (our big Christmas tree and our little Monterey pine out back). Speaking of trees, we even added some Christmas cheer to the palm trees outside of our home.

Palms

Cheerful

Penny again wasn’t quite so sure about what this was all about, but she enjoyed snuffing the different decorations. Certainly, all the breakable ones are out of snout and tail range. We hope.

Getting bigger every year

Good Tidings to All

We finished right as the sun was setting – a perfect cap to a great day of decorating and feeling those first tinges of the Holiday Spirit… :D

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Change of Season

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:03:29 -0800

This week's warm weather and clear-sky Santa Ana was ushered out today in a big way with rain showers (and even hail!) and a cold wind from the north.

The change in weather was a good demarcation point to change from Thanksgiving into Christmas, which we're getting an early start on this year. Of course, the first course of action is to get the tree.

Not Quite Sure

Now Penny has never had a tree in the house, and I'm not sure she entirely knows what to think about it. Wait until we put the lights and decorations on tomorrow!

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Morning Summit

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:09:36 -0800

After a couple of days of feeling out of sorts, it seems that Penny’s puppy pharmaceutical treatment has helped out immensely and that there was a very energetic and eager pointer ready for a big mountain hike this morning.

Let's Go! Let's Go!

Taking off!

Local mild Santa Anas brought in warm temperatures and clear skies, so it made for a great morning to bring the camera along.

Hooray!

We took a great long hike down and then up to the top of the mountain The Aerie rests on. There were great views out to the ocean and even down to Point Loma.

Near the top

Tongue Waggin'

Penny sure did seem Thankful to get a chance to run around! And we were Thankful to see her feeling more like herself.

Good view with playful dog

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

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Do you believe in omens?

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:47:36 -0800

So, my sister is coming from Maryland to visit for Thanksgiving. We did a lot of prep work this weekend to prepare, but I'm always looking for omens as to how the week might go.

Well -- both Penny and my car are sick. Penny had to take a de-wormer (ick) and my car needs new brake-pads (ka-ching).

Not herself

At least Penny gets to sleep and I get to drive around in a 1-series loaner. Now how'd they know I was eyeing up one of those....

Loaner

Hope everyone has a great week!

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Wine + Nerd = CellarTracker

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:17:54 -0800

So, anyone that spends time here probably knows that we like a good cocktail from time to time here at The Aerie. But as hard as it is to believe, a good stiff drink isn’t always the right accompaniment for every occasion. Sometimes you just have to have a good glass of wine.

Wine (as opposed to booze) is something that I’ve come to a little later in life. When I was younger, I was intimidated by the somewhat snooty air that went along with the growing “wine culture” in America. I mean, could I really taste “ripe berries” and “burnt oak” and “hints of melon” in the chianti being served at my local Italian joint? Hardly.

And then I moved to California.

Wine is of course a huge industry here and for good reason – there are a lot of really good California wines. And so, when I moved here, I started trying some and learned how to say “Pinot Noir” correctly so that I felt better about myself. And two things happened, a) I began to know what I liked and b) I began not to care what other people (read: wine snobs) thought.

So, about the time we moved into The Aerie, the Beloved and I started taking more of an interest in wine – traveling to Sonoma County several times over the last couple of years. There, we were able start finding some places that we liked and buying their wines, and over time, we built up a good little stash.

Racked up

Which bring me to today’s timewaster: CellarTracker. This is a free (though they ask for a donation) website where you can input the wines you have (and even the wines you want to have…) so that you know exactly what you’ve got, how it’s rated (both by the CellarTracker community and in major publications) and in cases of wines that need to be “laid-down”, when you should drink it.

I have to say that the website is very easy to use, has a great searching algorithm (so that you don’t have to enter in everything precisely, it will find the wine for you from its database…) and if you’re a data-nerd like me, you can sort and sub-sort your wines in all sorts of interesting ways.

CellarTracker screen

As it turns out, we have ~75 bottles of wine and I was able to get them all entered in maybe an hour and half. Pretty cool.

There are also fields for you to enter private and/or public tasting notes (which I think would be useful for wines you have in restaurants and would like to jot something down before the next time you go to the store…) – though I give everyone free rein to come smack me if I write one with language like “overtones of ripe plums with hints of chocolate and coffee…”

Bottoms up!

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Wednesday Time Waster -- Conquest

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:48:56 -0800

I'm really not one that spends a lot of time playing video/computer games (Facebook Scrabble and Word-twist, notwithstanding), but in the past couple of weeks, I have spent some time with a complete productivity abyss called "Conquest".

If you're like me, you spent a good chunk of your pre-teen and early teen years playing RISK on a board with some friends and rarely if ever actually finishing the game in an afternoon. RISK was a game that was always better in theory (good balance of chance and strategy) than in practice.

Old Friend

Well, imagine my delight when I came across the Conquest app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (I have a Touch). Conquest is essentially a RISK emulator in which the computer controls the other players. One thing I like is that it's pretty customizable -you can vary the number of players and their skill level, as well as control/vary the value of cannon-horse-soldier cards.

New Worlds to Conquer

In addition, the app includes about 10 different "worlds" to play on, so that you aren't always trying to capture Australia and then move out from there. The play is quick and intuitive, providing both an interesting strategy game and a dose of fond nostalgia.

Great for the airport or if you've got 20-30 minutes to kill -- finally it doesn't take all afternoon!

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West Coast Offensive

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:58:56 -0800

There’s a point in a football game when you sense that it’s over. And after staking the home-team Chargers to a 14-point lead, the Eagles were looking to get back in the game after a very good drive that had them 1st and goal from the 1 yard line. Yep – 3 feet away. Naturally, Andy Reid outsmarted himself and the Chargers D by calling play action passes and fade routes – eschewing the run as always --- and after three plays, the Eagles found themselves --- you guessed it, 3 feet from the endzone. David Akers kicks a field goal and a good 80 yard drive feels like a failure.

If this tune sounds familiar, it is. Much like in their loss to Dallas at home the week before, the Eagles squandered opportunity after opportunity by being unable to convert short yardage situations. Overall, the game was one that had to please fans of wide open offenses – each team scored five times, and after the first quarter both defenses seemed to be hanging on by a thread. With their Red Zone woes, the Eagles scored 2 TDs and 3 FGs (all the field goals being the dreaded you-can’t-score-a-TD 25 yd or less variety). The Chargers (who were outgained 462-331) were more efficient with their chances getting 4 TDs and 1 FG.

Works Too Much Near The Goal Line

So, once again, another chance slips by and the Eagles sit a game behind the Cowboys (who were humbled in Green Bay and missed THEIR chance to take a hold on the NFC East) and tied with the reeling Giants had a bye. Clearly, this is a division that might be won by default.

Eases The Pain

On the upside, the loss was made a little more bearable by making some pretzels that The Beloved and I shared in the second half. Not surprisingly, after a few of these guys, there was little need for dinner.

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Booking Through Thursday: Life's Too Short

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:54:09 -0800

Suggested by JM:

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation. That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.
Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?

I've almost always completed books that I've started. Maybe because I usually read books that have been well-reviewed or maybe because I'm generally an optimist and that even after a slow start I hope that it might get better, or maybe I have a stick-to-it-iveness that says if you're going to start something you might as well finish it.

Stephen King

Speaking of of finishing it, that does remind me of one of the few books I didn't finish -- "IT" from Stephen King. Clocking in at over a thousand pages and at the apex of his drug-addled, no-one-will-edit-him 80s long windedness (Steve: more isn't always better) -- I plodded along in this for about 400 pages and then said, "No mas!"

Oddly, I know several people for whom this book was one of their favorites, but I couldn't stand IT.

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Pomp and Circumstance

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:21:52 -0800

It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class. For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.

Good Down

I will have to say that Penny didn’t really love the classroom environment, because she couldn’t quite conceive of a place where there were half a dozen nice dogs and that she wasn’t supposed to play with them. What else could they be there for???

Good Heel

Still – when called on to do her series of behaviors, I have to say that she did really really well and passed with flying colors. After the final class, there was a little graduation ceremony and all the dogs received their diplomas to everyone’s cheers, though I’m pretty sure Penny was everybody’s favorite (not that I’m biased or anything).

Proud Pack

After the class, Penny got an extra treat and then got to go play with her BFF Roxy the Vizsla at dog beach. They ran and ran and ran together and just had a great old time.

BFFs in the surf

Chase me!

Afterwards, we all tramped over to a dog-friendly café in Del Mar for a late breakfast, relaxing well into the early afternoon over good food, pleasant conversation and tired pups.

Good job, Penny!

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Lost My Coffee

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:34:31 -0800

Xkcd is usually pretty good -- but this is genius.

Orbitals

Happy Friday!

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