La Blogotheque

A friend shared La Blogotheque with me a while ago. La Blogotheque is a video blogger who invites artists to perform off stage in atypical situations - elevators, on top of roofs, in a ferry, or walking down the street - and sometimes without proper instruments. The videos are shot in one take on a handheld camera. The performances shine, and the camera seems to dance and float along with the artists.

This one of Sufjan Stevens is my favorite.



The website is in French, but it's a pleasure to browse La Blogotheque's YouTube page. La Blogotheque has posted videos of Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, and Vampire Weekend. Enjoy!

2 Amy's d.o.c Spells Delicious

I finally made it to the District's foremost pizza joint: 2 Amy's.

For months since moving here 2 Amy's has been the place to go. "Oh it's good. Yeah, you've got to go sometime. Well be careful the wait can be exorbitantly long, but ya gotta go." They were right.

After the Jazz in the Garden on Friday, we headed over to the Cleveland Park spot for a nice snack and glass of wine. A simple glass door opened into a lively dining room packed with families and friends chatting about the week and enjoying the authentic Neapolitan pizza over natural wooden tables sitting atop of the black and white tile floor. Even at 10 pm there was a wait, an excited atmosphere, and a wooden-burning oven cooking as pizza at full capacity. A few minutes and we luckily snagged a table at the wine bar.

I order the Margherita pizze d.o.c. with mushrooms. D.o.c. stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata; it essentially means certified by the Italian government as authentic - pizze d.o.c. uses only soft grain flour, fresh yeast, water, and sea salt for the dough (2 Amy's does a good write-up of what d.o.c. is.). But the bottom line is that 2 Amy's makes an excellent pizza - certified or not.

My pizza came out quickly. After it was situated infront of me, my eyes immediately sized up the pie - the center was genourously portioned with fresh mozzarella di bufala and basil and the crust was warm and raised along the edges. I started out eating the pizza with a knife and fork; however, after my first bite of the cripsy crust gave way to the warm dough hidden inside, I put down my silverware and just went for it. It was too good to wait around for all this cutting and preparing, it was there on the table, ready to be enjoyed!

I've been told that there's a lot more to be enjoyed there like the mussels, charcuterie, homemade ice cream, and a good wine list. Looks like I'll have to go back; the hard part will be ordering a different pizza.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Funfetti cupcakes: story of childhood or summer?

Germs are Everywhere

Everyday, every news broadcast, every paper churns the stories out like butter - "Surprise! More Germs on Shopping Carts than Toilet Seats" or "Study finds Keyboards Dirtier than Bathroom floors" There's no avoiding these stories - they spread like wildfire through the office.

The day after one comes through the wire from the AP to the local news, my every move could trigger the gossip to butt-in and cut me off. While I reach out for the after lunch mint, with a shorten breath and a slight finger jest, they draw my attention in an eleventh-hour attempt to save my life.

"Oh, I just heard..." and then story tumbles out in a condensed form before I infect myself.

They wait in bewilderment for a reaction, recognition of the heroic act, something.

Then I eat the mint. I savor it - the stale spearmint flavor and chalk like texture - and I make sure they know it. They gaze back at me like a superhero who just found out they saved a villain, possibly their archenemy.

I don't eat it out of spite. I eat the mint, because I've eaten them my whole life - well at least since I could see over the counter at Alfie's and reach into the bowl with my tiny little mitts.

Germs are everywhere. It's fact. Wash your hands before you eat, don't stick your hands in your mouth, get the flu shot, and move on. Or you could running your keyboard through the dishwasher.

Many times germs are good for you too.

Restaurant Week!

Summer Restaurant Week has been announced for Washington, DC.

Restaurant Week is August 11 - 17th.

You can make your reservations online at OpenTable.

Kindle for Kinder

When the Kindle was introduced in November 2007 by Amazon, it was a natural progression for books to the digital world, but it's overall scope reached beyond that, beyond any digital media player seen. Download new books over EVDO from anywhere, daily paper subscriptions, highlighting text, playing audiobooks to name a few features that caught my eye - a larger list of surprising features. I've seen it a few make apperiances on the Metro in the morning, and it's well received by reading enthusiasts.

Based on Amazon's track record of innovation - EC2, S3, and product reccommendation engine - they'll continue to refine and develop the electronic reader, but I've taken the liberty to do my own imagining.

There is buzz all over the net about universities and schools distributing iPods for podcasts of lectures or important announcements; however, using Kindle, in the same device used to store textbooks, novels, and periodicals, teaches could push content like lecture notes, podcasts, assignments, handouts, and anysort of paper material.

The Kindle could have a Scholastic OS where a textbook is not a book but a group of content that encompasses notes, chapters, lectures, assignments, highlights, and online supplements. Essentially, instructors would publish content and students would subscribe. While this could be done to an extent now through a related system of RSS feeds, podcasts, notebooks, and textbooks the all-in-one simplicity, ease of use, and portability of the Kindle could pull it off.

Rumor has it that Kindle v2 is coming out in October, since I'm not an early adopter I'm excited to see it.

Remember how heavy those textbooks were?

Second Edition Sunday

Friday evening, I attend the Jazz concert in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden. The scene was out in full force with every patch of grass covered with lively 20 somethings pouring wine into plastic cups, snacking on ham and cheese, and dipping their feet in the shallow fountain while palavering - just loud enough to be understood over the Jazz - about "how great it was to be Friday." I'm going again this Friday, bringing wine, and I'm sure I'll be happy that it's Friday.

Thoughts on Rock Band

If you were in a band would you rather play Rock Band or have band practice?

I'm in a Rock Band band, our band practice is Rock Band.

Depave!

This makes me happy: Depave! Especially the people on stilts. Check out depave.org.

Swedish fish were on-sale at CVS. Awesome.

Reflections after a Year

Lure of Big Paycheck Tugs at Graduates

After coming home from work at 10:30 PM tonight, this article resonated with me. It discusses graduates of elite colleges taking the position at a consulting firm or hedge fund as the safe option. A year ago when I accepted my offer with a consulting firm, I saw it as an opportunity to gain experience in software development. I've certainly done that, but I can't help feeling constrained, stressed, and a little directionless at times. Mostly it's because I get stuck in the details after long hours in the Dev Room.

At times, I struggled at Lawrence too, and in the end, it was the best decision I ever made. I was able to grow in any direction I pleased from putting together a radio show to solving abstract math problems. It just took time to figure it out.

I'm passionate about public transportation, fascinated by digital media, love writing, and growing an interest in usability. One day I'll figure out a way to put those together, until then I'll keep looking for places to grow where I am, and as long as those are present I'll make it through the week.

I graduated last June, it has taken a while to remember that a year is not a long time.

Internet and Money

As I settle into life here in DC, I've begun to look at buying a condo. Real estate is expensive here in Washington, just out of reach at the moment; however, the low interest rates have caught my attention. Zip Realty and Trulia are great tools for searching properties around the country. They're easy to use, see estimates, compare properties, get advice, and see trends. I curiuos to why it took a start-up to make an intelligent tool like this. Large real estate companies had all the expertise, information, and brand; however, they didn't push the limits and make something innovative to create more revenue.

Record companies are the same way they spend too much time fighting internet radio and digital downloads rather than figuring out how to effectively create revenue from them. Streaming music to moblie phones? A rhapsody client for the phone? Publish your own music channel to stream to friends or your phone? Rock Band to promote your new single?

Dear Record Companies,

iTunes is the largest music retailer in the United States. Get over it, you lost this fight.

Sincerely,
A Music Enthusiast

Lost in Email

A nice article from the New York Times about distractions at work. Several large tech companies have started a non-profit group to help fight the electronic information bludge and email overload. We'll see which company turns this into a revenue stream first.

My desk in the room of distractions.

iPhone 2.0: A Step Back

Despite adding a GPS feature to the iPhone, the new pricing model is pointing the iPhone in the wrong direction.

With the iPhone 2.0 coming out July 11th, it is assuming a more traditional pricing model for cell phones in the United States: carriers like AT&T subsidize the cost of the phone inexchange the customer must signup for a long term contract. Apple gets a fair price for the phone, AT&T gets a two year contract, and the subscriber pays less for the phone. Everyone wins, as long as the subscriber doesn't cancel, right?

For moblie enthusiasts looking for the phone to become the next personal computer this is step in the wrong direction towards an open network. Phones are once again tied to contracts. I wouldn't want Comcast to subsidize my laptop if I agree to have the supply internet for two years.

Until I stop associating my phone with a two year span, it will never become my device that I take care, never travel without, message, text, search, surf the web, and find revenue for all of those internet startups. The mobile phone will never be personal until I can take it with me for network to network just like me number. I'll never give up my "630".

Maybe Android will be the kicker, as Google tries to secure its place in the moblie (advertisement) market.

Brasserie Beck

Early in the evening Monday, after disastrous service at M&S Grill, my friends and I switched locations. We fought the 98 degree heat and made our way through the sun and humidity a few blocks to Brasserie Beck, a French restaurant on K St.

Situated in a modern office building with a simmering glass facade, Beck's large double doors opened up into an expansive restaurant. With high ceilings and an art deco decor, I wondered if I walked into a Parisian train station to grab a quick lunch before my 12:47 to Brussels. The marble-and-walnut bar was lined with colorful and rare taps from Belgium and the space was filled with chatty young professionals enjoying the beer. Any place meant to enjoy beer finds a special place in my heart.

We grabbed a table outside to enjoy the evening as the sun went down and it began to cool. The first thing handed to the table was a beer menu. Listed out by style I carefully perused the menu and descriptions of the eclectic spigots from the bar like I was looking for the right bottle to go with dinner. Half liters of Hoegaarden were the special. Size and price won out; I order a Hoegaarden. Next time I'll be more adventurous but for the warm evening on the patio, a wit beer hit the spot.

Brasserie Beck is worth the trip.

In related news, InBev, has offered 46 Billion dollars to buy Budweisser, which would make it the largest beer company in the world.

Facebook

I just noticed that Facebook's login does not redirect you an encrypted login page. Does this concern anyone else?