Year: 2001

Categories
Just Shelley

My first car

I’m buying myself a late Christmas present — a 2002 Ford Focus SE. It ain’t a Jaguar, and it ain’t a Porsche, but the thing’s a kick in the butt to drive. And it’ll be all mine. My very first car.

Hey, I only got my driver’s license this year. I started to learn how to drive in Boston, and finished up with my test in San Francisco after driving across country (with a co-driver of course) in 3 days. Not bad for someone in their 40’s, eh? Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

P.S. Call me old dog to my face, and I’ll show you that I still have most of my teeth, too..

Categories
Weblogging

Another blogger quits

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Another blogger bites the dust — Time for your Meds left weblogging abruptly, posting a note today that she won’t be writing to the weblog…or writing at all. A loss to the weblogging community because Tracy’s writing was always fresh, insightful, and interesting.

I think that weblogging can become such an intensely personal experience at times, that you have to take a break from it or become lost within the postings. Sometimes the break is temporary; sometimes it’s permanent. Regardless, it comes suddenly, leading the weblog readers to wonder at the story behind the end. Whoever said there’s no mystery in life, has never spent time on the weblogging circuit.

Categories
Specs

Zeldman CNet interview

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Never noticed this CNet article with Zeldman before. Hmmm. Seems as if the questions the interviewer is asking echo things — such as the WSP organization not being that much of an influence with Microsoft, but having a negative influence with the Netscape 6.0 release — that I’ve been saying lately. Guess my interpretation of the WaSP’s efforts in the last year or two isn’t all that unique or that unusual.

One thing I have noticed recently — my background is in computer systems and developing software, and I’ve been working in this field long before the Web came along; Zeldman’s, along with many (not all) members of the WSP, have backgrounds in print or art or graphics, and drifted into technology through interest in the Web. Perhaps that’s why there’s a lack of common communication: I can’t understand how these people can’t adapt to the differences in Web user agents, and they can’t understand why I’m not as uptight about standards adherence as they are.

As any experienced software or device driver developer can tell you, standards go only so far.

Categories
Just Shelley

Afternoon tea

Today I had afternoon tea with a close friend of mine who was in town visiting family. Lisa’s from Boston and we both have a thing for traditional English teas.

We went to the Hyatt Plaza in San Francisco’s financial district. The hotel had very few people about — a result of the times, unfortunately. Lisa and I were the only two people to show up for tea, and the hotel personnel weren’t sure where to seat us.

However, once seated — in all our splendid lonesome glory — we were given superb service and an excellent tea. The person who waited on us (and I have a suspicion she might be one of the hotel management folks) apologized because we had to wait for the scones at one point — 5 whole minutes. Once we buried our faces into hot, flaky scones, with Devonshire cream and fresh strawberry preserves, however, all was forgiven.

At the end of the tea, our “waiter” told us that the tea was no charge: the hotel’s way of apologizing for the confusion in the service. We were totally blown away because the tea was excellent!

If you live in the San Francisco or Bay area, do me a favor and stop by the Park Hyatt and have tea or lunch — they’re a class act, and they can use a little support now from the community.

P.S. Still trying to get my previous Blogger templates and archives into my new Greymatter setup. Probably take a day or two.

Categories
Just Shelley

Afternoon tea

Today I had afternoon tea with a close friend of mine who was in town visiting family. Lisa’s from Boston and we both have a thing for traditional English teas.

We went to the Hyatt Plaza in San Francisco’s financial district. The hotel had very few people about — a result of the times, unfortunately. Lisa and I were the only two people to show up for tea, and the hotel personnel weren’t sure where to seat us.

However, once seated — in all our splendid lonesome glory — we were given superb service and an excellent tea. The person who waited on us (and I have a suspicion she might be one of the hotel management folks) apologized because we had to wait for the scones at one point — 5 whole minutes. Once we buried our faces into hot, flaky scones, with Devonshire cream and fresh strawberry preserves, however, all was forgiven.

At the end of the tea, our “waiter” told us that the tea was no charge: the hotel’s way of apologizing for the confusion in the service. We were totally blown away because the tea was excellent!

If you live in the San Francisco or Bay area, do me a favor and stop by the Park Hyatt and have tea or lunch — they’re a class act, and they can use a little support now from the community.

P.S. Still trying to get my previous Blogger templates and archives into my new Greymatter setup. Probably take a day or two.