15ms of Fame

So I just found out that the wife will be on the news tonight on national TV. In Japan. It looks like the clip's available here, but I doubt it's going to stay there for long so I've archived it on YouTube for posterity.

Can you spot her?

Undocumented YUI TabView Feature

We've been using dojo at work for a while now but bugs in its UI components have really prevented us from doing everything that we wanted with it. Lately, I've started switching our code over to use YUI instead and have been surprised at how easy it's been.

One of the most critical components for us is the TabView component. While the docs for YUI are generally pretty good, I couldn't figure out how to display a "Loading..." image when dynamically pulling in data for a tab until I stumbled over this undocumented gem. Suppose you declare your tabs like so:

<div id="myTabs" class="yui-navset">
  <ul class="yui-nav">
    ...
  </ul>
  <div class="yui-content">
    ...
  </div>
</div>

Then adding the following CSS rules will automatically do the trick:

#myTabs .loading {
  background-image: url(/images/loading.gif);
  background-position: center center;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
#myTabs .loading * {
  display:none;
}

I stumbled over this while checking out the examples for the Bubbling Library's Dispatcher YUI plug-in, which in turn solves the problem of executing JavaScript in the dynamically loaded content.

Year in Review

Yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary. We didn't really do anything special since we've had family staying with us all week, but we did get a single sheet of our wedding cake to celebrate the occasion. This was entirely the wife's initiative though. My sole contribution was to mention how much I loved our lemon and poppy seed cake a couple weeks ago.

In our first year together we

• spent a month going around the world for our honeymoon,
• slowly merged our two separate households together,
• bought a huge piano,
• moved out of our house when we finally
• started our long planned-for remodeling project.

I don't know what the future will bring, but personally, I couldn't be happier and can say that I'm 100% better off now than I was 366 days ago.

Construction Day 25

All the windows but one are in now, and the patio doors will be arriving next week. They've also started to finish the shear walls.

Construction Day 21

Everything's still going pretty well despite the trouble we're having finalizing our plans. We've had to switch structural engineers because the ones we had been working with are asking for an arm and a leg to do the new calculations. We've also been told that we do not have enough shear wall in the master bedroom due to all the new windows we've added, so we're waiting to see if we have to get rid of a window to add that support or if there are any other alternatives.

Construction-wise, things are pretty much set in the front of the house. We decided to shorten the coat closet by the main entry last week once we saw how narrow the entry into the living room would be, and it's looking much better now. The electrician's starting to position all the recessed lighting and the first window is in!

A Slight Retraction

The last time I blogged about Barefoot I was deeply unhappy about the changes they'd made. This time I'm writing to retract my statement that I could no longer recommend them as the best place to go for coffee. While I can't say I'm ecstatic about the changes, I can at least say that I've come to terms with them and understand their reasons for it.

While I still miss the old milk, I have come to appreciate the new one as well. Barefoot is right; once I got over my disappointment that it no longer tasted the same, I did actually notice that the new milk lets the coffee come through better.

I did, however, get another surprise today when I ordered a cold latte. Apparently iced and cold lattes now comes pre-mixed using cold-brewed coffee by default (as opposed to using an espresso shot). This is probably a good thing if I was ordering an iced latte because throwing hot espresso on to the cold ice shocks the coffee. For cold lattes (no ice, just cold milk), however, I still prefer a real espresso shot. So now I have to remember to custom order my cold lattes. *sigh*

If only they'd publicize these changes instead of springing it on their poor unsuspecting coffee addicts...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Welcome to the year of the Earth Rat!

We rang in the new year with the wife's extended family, who are all in Sacramento this week since her brother is getting married this Friday.

Don't Forget To

Construction Day 16

The framing is still going on, but the major internal walls are all there now and things are really starting to take shape. The plumber and electrician have also started doing their thing, and the next major step is to get the windows in.

As for the plans, they're still not completely nailed down yet. We'd gone back to the city with an updated set of plans, but they want further revisions. *sigh*

Super Tuesday

I've been hemming and hawing about the candidates for a while now, but in the end, my choice hasn't really changed. I remember my mom asking me who I'd vote for about a year ago, and I'd said that if I had to choose, I'd opt for Hillary on the Democratic side and McCain on the Republican side. The New York Times recently recommended these two candidates as well, and they've vocalized better than I could why Hillary and McCain are our best options.

The choice on the Republican side is extremely simple for me: McCain is the only one who seems willing to bridge the chasm between the Republicans and the Democrats, with a proven track record for building consensus, and lord knows we need that now more than ever. I've been tempted by Huckabee because he's been running such an amicable and friendly campaign, but I really don't think someone who references his religion every chance he gets will be able to keep the church and state separate.

As for the Democrats, it's a tough call, but in the end I buy into Hillary's experience shpiel. After all, when you're looking for a doctor or a lawyer, do you go for the young guy just out of school? Or do you go for the most experienced one you can find? A few random observations:

• I was pleasantly surprised by how friendly the race on the Democratic side has been, at least until a couple weeks ago.
• Even more surprised that Obama has been complaining about Bill Clinton campaigning on behalf of his wife. Really? Is he seriously saying that his team didn't think this was going to happen? I think it's just childish jealousy on his part. If he could have a former president campaigning on his behalf, I don't think he'd say no either. I mean, Bill's basically a very famous volunteer...

A Bit of Oddness

Came across this bit of trivia while surfing: While sitting down, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Continue doing this and try to draw the number six in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.

Construction Day 6

End of day six, and pretty much the end of the demolition phase. The front half of the house is completely opened up, and you can see clear to the ceiling. The framing phase starts tomorrow.

Unfortunately I still don't have the final plans yet, so things may slow down if I can't get it asap. We've been making some last minute tweaks and getting it all into an official AutoCAD drawing is taking a bit longer than anticipated. In principal, this is the kind of thing that should have been completed before we started construction, but our designer gave us such amazing ideas that we had to incorporate them.

Construction Day 3

Taken this morning... The demolition continues.

Construction Begins!

Woo-hoo! The remodel is now officially under way! Stopped by the house early this morning and watched them take a sledgehammer and pickaxe to the kitchen.

Refracted Sunshine

After a couple days of heavy rain it was nice to finally get a break. Drove around the corner from the house and saw the rainbow, which brought a smile to my face, even if everything else was a dreary gray.

Surf's Up

Went to Pacifica to get a quote on some cabinets today and stopped to admire the immense waves that were coming in. Made me wish I'd brought my camera with me. Mother nature can be totally awe inspiring when she wants to be. I was mesmerized by the chaos and power of the waves until the cold drove me back to the warmth of the car.

And a Happy New Year!

Best of luck to everyone, and may you hold true to all your resolutions!

Personally, I can't wait for the year to get started. I still need to finalize a bunch of things for the house remodel, but can't since many of the stores and people I'm working with have been on vacation for the past week or so.

Merry Christmas!

圣诞快乐
Joyeux Noël!
C Pождеством
Frohe Weihnachten!
Maligayang Pasko!
Selamat Hari Natal!

Woosh

Went to Sugar Bowl today for my first day of snowboarding this season. I have fond memories of Sugar Bowl as this was where I first really learned how to snowboard oh so long ago.

Unlike the powder of memory though, the snow cover was pretty sparse. The storm that blew through last week must have melted away or missed Sugar Bowl completely.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day, there were no crowds, and the runs off Lincoln were good enough to occupy me for much of the day.

Disappointment in a Cup

I've been a big fan of Barefoot Coffee Roasters ever since the wife discovered the place. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that they've changed my life -- how I've thought of coffee specifically -- and I've been recommending it to friends at every opportunity.

You can surely imagine my sadness and disappointment then when I say that I can no longer recommend Barefoot. They've recently redone their menu, increased their prices, and changed their source for milk. I can handle the first two, but that third is a killer.

Now I'm paying more for less (smaller cups) for lattes that taste worst (mainly due to the milk).

Woe!

Their claim is their new specially-formulated-for-Barefoot milk by the Strauss Family Farms is superior, but my tongue begs to differ. I can only dream of the days when they served Clover's Extra Rich Milk.

I guess I should point out that Barefoot still makes good coffee. It's probably still the best in the area, but they no longer make great coffee.