Remotigue.net

Facebook backlash

Tomas — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:02:39 +0000

Actually just restarting this blog thing and using it as an excuse to play with Google Friend Connect. You’ll see a little bar at the bottom of the page that you can join. Since I work there I figure I should use their stuff…plus I was getting sort of bored with Facebook and am starting to dislike the idea of all my stuff sitting in there. At least on a blog I own all my own inane comments. And I’ll be able to use this as a test for different ways of marketing Huong’s business on her Dribs website.

Anyways, I’ll be experimenting with different ways to post on the blog and syndicating stuff to Facebook and Twitter, so expect some random posts in the future.

Pam Spencer

Tomas — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:54:52 +0000

A few years ago I worked in professional services at a software company called Model N. I was there for close to 5 years, and for almost half that time I worked on a project for a single client, C. R. Bard, and medical products company based near Atlanta. One of the primary sponsors of the project was this red-haired lady named Pam Spencer who grew up in the North but ended up living in the South, always ate candy for lunch (Life Savers were a particular favorite), and was a huge lover of animals. We spent a lot of time together in various meetings both in the Bay Area and back in Atlanta, and she was always a fabulous host and had a terrific sense of humor.

I learned a little while ago that Pam was shot and killed by her boyfriend a few months back. She was a fantastic woman; I wish I’d found out sooner or kept in touch but at least I had the pleasure of meeting her.

RockdaleCitizen.com

Sammie’s recipe for cupcakes

huongremo — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:02:56 +0000

One of Sammie’s favorite things in the world is making cupcakes. I asked her to tell me how she makes them and this was her response. “You mix it. You stir it so fast. Then you lick it. Then you take it out and you eat it.”Darn kids know a hell of a lot more than you give them credit for I guess. My two nephews know a thing or two in the kitchen as well. Here are their recipes for eggs and cake.

Matty, age 4: Making eggs:

“You use a spoon to crack eggs, and you cook them hot, then put them in the oven, then you bake it.”

Evy, age 2: Making a cake:

“You mix cake, and spill it, and put frosting on it like a snow man.”

Damn scammers

Tomas — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:45:01 +0000

I requested a subscription for a magazine, and I’m waiting for the first issue to arrive. So I just got this in the mail:

Thing is, the magazine I requested is called “Games for Windows” and this shows “Computer Gaming World”, which was the name of the mag 2 years ago. Plus the offer when I requested the subscription was for 12 issues for $12, a hell of a lot better than 36 issues for $84. And who the hell is “Billing Subscription Co.”? Games for Windows Magazine is published by Ziff-Davis. Oh yeah, and there’s that fine print – “OFFER NOT A BILL”.

So I flipped it over and on the back you see this:

Here, buried in a nice big blurb of text they mention “The offer that you received is just an offer not a bill”. They’ll gladly cancel your order “if your order has not yet been processed”, in which case they’ll charge a $9 fee plus “costs to submit your order”. Why do I suspect that a lot of people (like my parents) could get screwed by this sort of thing?

I sent a complaint to the BBB and sent billingsubscriptionco@yahoo.com a note. I don’t know how they figured out that I requested the subscription but it has to be more than coincidence.

Please, please, don’t fall for this stuff.

Damn scammers.

Watching Barney on TV

Tomas — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:07:49 +0000

Me: (singing along to the Barney song) I love you, you lo-
Sammie: (putting her finger to my lips) Don’t sing, Barney sings.
Me: (Annoyed look)
Sammie: Stop it, don’t look at me ok. I’m watching Barney.

Cincinnati

Tomas — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:20:22 +0000

We took a post-holiday visit for 4 days to see the family, since the flights to Cincy are pretty ridiculous during the holidays. It’s amazing to see your own kids grow up, but it’s even more incredible to see other people’s children, the ones that you see regularly but not too often. It’s been about 2 years since we saw my cousin’s family, and her son must have grown 6 inches in that time. My nephew, Nathan, is a 1st grader and he looks like a *kid* instead of a toddler. But he still plays really well with Sammie and is still obsessed with Spiderman, so it’s nice to see that some things don’t change.

Sammie seemed to get right into the swing of things, and after a few minutes she seemed to remember everybody no matter where we went. The best part is that she gets along great with my mom (Grandma Ursula), giving Huong and I some space. She had a lot of fun walking going on walks with her and their dog.

Weather-wise, Cincinnati in February is a cold place. It was a lot of freezing rain and occasional snow mixed in for good measure. Sammie didn’t seem to mind in the least that she was playing more with ice than snow. The drive down from Columbus the night we arrived was pretty exciting – it’s been a while since I’ve driven in snow, and the freeways hadn’t been plowed or salted yet. A nice reminder why I moved to California.

A nice trip overall, the only thing missing was cheese coneys. My mom was on another cooking kick, so there was always a home-cooked meal waiting. I guess I can live with that.

Google Talkback

Tomas — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:09:32 +0000

Google released a Google Talk gadget that lets you embed a talkback button in your site, no Google Talk account required by the visitor. I added it at the top of the sidebar on the right — I always like to hear from friends and family so feel free to send me a note.

If you want to try it out on your own pages, check it out here.

The magical world of Disney

Tomas — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:21:14 +0000

Google sends its employees on an annual trip for a couple of days, and in past years it was to Tahoe for skiing. This year (supposedly by popular demand) they chose to offer up Disneyland as an alternative. Since it was the off-season, the place was pretty deserted, and I’d say that our group made up close to a quarter of the total visitors to the park. On top of that, after 8PM the park was closed and we have exclusive access to it. It’s pretty novel to be able to run up the an ice cream stand and be bale to get whatever you want. The funny thing was, the wait for the rides were about the same because there really aren’t all that many rides worth getting on, and pretty much everybody was waiting in line. When you walked around the park you’d see hardly anybody.

All told it was a lot of fun, although a bit surreal. It’ll be interesting to compare it to when we take Sammie. I’m not sure how much I’ll like the rides when I have to wait an hour and a half to get on one.

How many 5 year olds can you take?

Tomas — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:51:58 +0000

Having experience with a toddler probably helps in this arena…

Update: Looks like the survey results are now broken. Damn marketing campaigns…

California Winter Wonderland

Tomas — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:48:13 +0000

When I was a kid, sledding was something that I’d do in my backyard. Or maybe walk to the neighborhood park. And I’d do it pretty much everyday.

In California, sledding is an event. Last weekend we went to Pinecrest, on the way to Yosemite, to go sledding. We spent Friday night at my brother-in-law’s place in Tracy, about 45 minutes a way, and then in the morning we all piled into his SUV and drove 2+ hours. We brought Sammie and his 2 older girls. The night before we had to make a Target run to buy some snow boots – back in Ohio, people just had that sort of stuff. It was kind of expected.

Anyway, we played in the snow for a few hours on this big slope with a couple dozen other families (it was crowded, in typical California fashion), and we all had a pretty good time. The weather was nice too – a balmy 45 degrees. Sammie was pretty freaked out when we went sledding, but she loved throwing snowballs. Apparently kids nowadays don’t make snowballs the old fashioned way, they use snowball makers. I wish they had those 20 years ago. Aside from nearly knocking myself out trying to take a small jump on the sled, I had a blast.

All in all, it was fun but somewhat of an ordeal. Not that I’m complaining – I don’t like playing in the snow enough to have to live with it.