I've added a silly little

I've added a silly little thing I wrote ages ago about my cat to the writing section called Travels with Bodhi.

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Deliver me from Swedish furniture

Deliver me from Swedish furniture and the horrific lines that accompany it: today's foray to the East Bay to check out the new IKEA came to an abrupt halt before we even entered the parking lot. There was a line half the length of the store that wrapped around the corner and extended far along the side of the building. It must have been an hour's wait, at least, to get in. Yes, to get IN to the store. I don't care how cool that stuff looks online or in the catalog, there's no way it's worth that. We turned around and drove back to the City without ever getting out of the car.

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Last September, we had a

Last September, we had a Partito del Vino (that's fake Italian for "Wine Party") up at pb's. In an effort to be oh-so-cutting-edge, we kept a party blog. This afternoon, we're having Partito del Vino II, and we've revived the blog for round two. You can party along with us, if you dare.

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Beautiful Saturdays should not be

Beautiful Saturdays should not be spent alone indoors on the computer, no siree, they should be spent out of doors, in one of those boats in the Park with one's sweetie pie.

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You say it's your birthday?

You say it's your birthday? Happy birthday to you!

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If you can read it,

If you can read it, and you're insane, you might want to check out the new HOT vanilla ice blog.

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If you've got verdana, you

If you've got verdana, you may have noticed that I've changed the font to that (from arial). My heart's always belonged to verdana, and though I thought I'd try something "different" with the new design, I had to switch back. It just didn't feel right. For those of you without verdana, ignore this post.

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Seems that Dynamite post struck

Seems that Dynamite post struck a chord with many Megnut readers, so for those of you whose chord was struck, mr hype (no relation to mr pants from what I can tell) sends along this page of those goofy Dynamite stickers.

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As you may recall from

As you may recall from the previous Megnut design, I am reading (still! this is one long book and I'm one slow reader) Anna Karenina, which contains approximately 30 detail-laden pages of snipe hunting action. It's been hard for me to really grok though, as I wasn't familiar with the whole snipe hunting phenomena. Now, thanks to .zannah, I am.

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mathowie: "another day of fucking

mathowie: "another day of fucking swearing like fucking sailors"
meg: "can i blog that?"
mathowie: "no, fuck you"

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This morning I thought my

This morning I thought my ship had come in, but as it neared port, it turned and went back out to sea: getting my morning soy latte, I paid as usual, only today the register indicated that my change was $305,000. "Woo hoo!" I cheered as I raised my arms in triumph and visions of a Grecian vacation flashed before my eyes, "woo hoo!" But alas, it was an error. I had, in fact, paid with exact change, and my cheers were greeted only with an additional stamp on my frequent coffee buyer's coffee card.

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If you're wondering where to

If you're wondering where to find Library of Congress information old-school style, look no further than their gopher site. Contained within? Handy pieces of information such as Washington DC taxi fares (circa 1993). I go, you go, we all go for Gopher!

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Loss of focus blurry distractions

Loss of focus blurry distractions spaced out looking off thinking of nothing.

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Ask and you shall receive:

Ask and you shall receive: courtesy of sanj, a listing of all the late night tv shows and guests. Thanks!

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It turns out Ani DiFranco

It turns out Ani DiFranco was on The Tonight Show last week, and I missed it. Boo hoo. Wouldn't it be nice if you could go somewhere, check off what artists/bands you're interested in, and you'd receive an email when they're coming to town, or being on tv? I'd settle, actually, for a weekly email from the Tonight Show, or Conan, announcing upcoming guests. Come to think of it, that would totally increase my late night talk show tv viewing (currently comprising 0.00% of all my tv viewing time) because sometimes, I have to admit, I'm kinda interested in those movie stars and junk like that.

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A geeky mom

Of all the Megnut feedback I've received today, this is my favorite, from my mom:

My only objection to the new site is the lack of color - couldn't you use a nice spring green like #CCFF66 maybe?"

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Springtime means design time here

Springtime means design time here at Megnut, and accordingly I present A Very White Megnut for your viewing pleasure. This design should be working on PC/4+ browsers. I haven't had a chance to test it on a Mac yet, so any Mac feedback would be greatly appreciated. Any feedback at all would actually be greatly appreaciated. Also, any bug reports. I'm kinda tired, and I overwrote my javascript file, so chances are, a bunch of functions in the archives will break until I get back in there and fix them all. Apologies. Let me know if you stumble across any.

You may have noticed that I've added a nav to the 'nut. I've been meaning to add more content for ages but the old design didn't really "enable" that, as the consultants like to say, hence the new design. So I hope you like it. I like it, mostly because it's a change. And I'll be adding to it as the days grow longer and the BBQs fire up...

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This isn't really me. I

This isn't really me. I swear it's not. Ev is a big fat liar.

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Things have been slow here

Things have been slow here in MegnutLand (not to be confused with CandyLand). I made the mistake of spending a big chunk of time away from my computer, and now I can't seem to get back in the saddle again. Nothing in my head seems like it belongs on the web these days.

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I'm just a little tired

I'm just a little tired of the ol' dhtml images following the mouse around trick these days. Come on people...

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What a start to the

What a start to the week: a Zen Shiatsu massage practioner has just moved into an office around the corner from our office. She also offers ergonomic workplace assessment and Feng Shui consultation, in addition to the massage. Is it lunch hour yet?

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Does anyone else remember Dynamite

Does anyone else remember Dynamite magazine, you could get it through Scholastic Book Orders at school in the 70's? Not only do I remember every one of the covers on the Dynamite site, when I found Scholasic's site, I got all excited and wanted to order books again. I think we should implement office book orders (and no, I don't mean via Amazon or Fatbrain). Each month we'd get those thin paper catalogs with pictures of books, and then we'd bring in checks and the books would be delivered several weeks later. Let's bring the fun parts of childhood back into our day-to-day lives.

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Eeek, looks like we've

Eeek, looks like we've got some cold weather coming our way. Bundle up, San Franciscans, and stock up on firewood!

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Holy shit, color me impressed.

Holy shit, color me impressed. I filed my tax return electronically on April 10th. My California refund was direct deposited on April 18th. I am in awe.

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Start your training now, the

Start your training now, the World Yo-Yo Contest will be held July 8-9 in Orlando at Universal Studios. The Pyra crew will be there in our new team yo-yo outfits (they'll be for sale on our site soon too!) doing all our amazing yo-yo tricks. You may have been lucky enough to catch some of them live on the pyra cams or in person at SXSW. If not, glue yourself to the TV in July, I'm sure ESPN will be providing 24/7 coverage of the event.

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My single status has not

My single status has not gone unnoticed by some on the web: Metajohn reveals the perfect match for me. I cannot argue with such sound logic, and I didn't know there were any other Bills fans outside of Buffalo. Actually, I wasn't even sure there were any other Bills fans.

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Single digits are the best

Single digits are the best digits.

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I've been thinking a lot

I've been thinking a lot lately about San Francisco and the dot-com invasion and thinking I should be so excited the city's ranks are swelling with internet people doing crazy web things and changing the world. But I'm not. I look around at lunch in South Park and I don't feel like I'm looking at people I know, at people who share the same passions with me, at people who get It. A friend told me this story: he met a web designer at a party the other night, he says, "oh, do you have a personal site?" Her answer, "no."

And I realized there are dot-com people and there are web people. Dot-com people work for start-ups injected with large Silicon Valley coin, they have options, they talk options, they dream options. They have IPOs. They're richer after four months of "web" work than many web people who've been doing it since the beginning. They don't have personal sites. They don't want personal sites. They don't get personal sites. They don't get personal. Web people can tell you the first site they ever saw, they can tell you the moment they knew: This, This Is It, I Will Do This. And they pour themselves into the web, with stories, with designs, with pictures. They create things worth looking at, worth reading, worth coveting, worth envying, worth loving. They create Beautiful Things. We need more of those.

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I majorly *heart* Ani DiFranco.

I majorly *heart* Ani DiFranco.

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update: pb found the tickets.

update: pb found the tickets. phew!

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Woo hoo! I get to

Woo hoo! I get to cut out of work early today to drive up to Pauly's and to go see Ani. If he can find the tickets. I'm driving there for sure. I just hope pb finds the tickets for sure.

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"I'm beginning to think that

"I'm beginning to think that webapp development is some sort of crazy punishment wrought upon those foolish enough to undertake it." Amen, brother, amen.

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There was a birthday party

There was a birthday party last Saturday night. Ev took pictures. I took pictures. pb took pictures. Ev posted pictures. pb posted pictures. My pictures are mixed in with Ev's, because my camera's broken and cannot download pictures and I'm lazy anyway and never bother to post the pictures I take. Good thing Ev and pb aren't so lazy.

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There's so much that we

There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware...Heather links to a McSweeneys article today written by her friend John. When I read it, I realize that I went to high school with someone who has the same name. I email Heather, can this be the same person? At lunch, Derek says he's working on getting a book published. A friend has just recommended an agent in NY. The agent's checked out SFStories. He likes what he sees. He wants to get in touch with Derek. I say, can this be John Hodgman, the literary agent with whom I may or may not have attended high school? Yup, says Derek. Yup, confirms Heather. Yup, confirms the email in my inbox from the Man himself. The same John, class of '89, Brookline High School...it's a small world after all.

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I find articles like this

I find articles like this one from the Chicago Tribune so distressing for two reasons:

First, because they quote studies in a way that reinforces the same old stereotypes: that girls aren't interested in how computers work, that girls would rather be popular than be geeky, that using and loving computers means you're a geek. I wonder how much these articles continue to influence our perceptions? I wonder how many young women don't realize that computers are for geeks until they read something like this?

Second, because there continues to exist a "big drop-off in girls' participation in math and science in the middle school years." I guess I'd hoped the situation had improved since the day in 1985 when Caleb Wiggin spotted my AP Biology textbook in my book bag and said to me, "but you're not a sophomore, you're a freshman. Why are you taking AP Bio? You must be a big nerd." I was so mortified that as soon as he was gone, I turned the book over so the binding was no longer visible, so that no one could read the big dark green word, Biology. And I made a point of carrying my book that way the rest of the school year.

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Ever find yourself wondering what

Ever find yourself wondering what the words are to every single REM song? Wonder no more: The Complete REM Lyrics Archive.

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Man oh man, I thought

Man oh man, I thought my math class in high school was cool, but Katie's class is like cool³: Using Calculus to figure out How Many Licks It Takes to Get to the Center of a Tootsie Pop. When I read this, I actually thought: This would be something fun to try at home!

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Earlier today I was going

Earlier today I was going to make a grouchy post about Opening Day and the chaos that was taking place outside of our office, but all that was forgotten at lunch. As Ev and I walked down Townsend, four F-16s screamed low over the ballpark. As the thunderous jets reverberated in my chest, a fifth snuck up from behind and climbed practically straight up into the sun and sped off. As I stood there looking up, I got as excited as a kid, I love jets! Then fireworks, daytime fireworks, ignited with big, billowing clouds of colored smoke and sparkles. You could hear the crowd inside the park cheering, people on the street stopped to absorb the excitement, and all of the sudden I realized the air smelled of hot dogs, big juicy delicious hot dogs. Maybe opening day's not so bad after all.

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Web TurboTax actually makes doing

Web TurboTax actually makes doing taxes fun. Last year I thought I enjoyed it, but this year was even better. The interface is cleaner, the performance is considerably improved, and I'm getting $850 in refunds! (Damn, I wish I'd done my taxes in February, oh well.)

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Hee hee. Ev and pb

Hee hee. Ev and pb both wore Blogger t-shirts and jeans today. Looks like we need to plan outfits a little more carefully around here from now on.

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Some days I wake up

Some days I wake up in the morning and I imagine the coming days, picturing what I'll be doing, and I get so excited! When I was younger and this happened, I always wanted time to speed up, so I could get to these good things, and skip over the dull moments, like riding the MUNI to work. But lately I seem to be calmer, and happy in each of the moments, happy in all of the moments in fact.

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I've been thinking about stupid

I've been thinking about stupid childhood things all day now, and I was recollecting one afternoon when I was home alone after school, probably fourth grade. I was standing in the kitchen looking at the phone, and I realized that I could use it to call people who didn't speak English. This was very intriguing to me, so I got out the phone book and I called Japan. Someone answered and I froze. It was so exciting to hear something I didn't understand, and so terrifying. I hung up without saying anything. About a month later, the phone bill came. I blamed it on my brother (sorry Mike). And my parents believed me.

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I bought the silliest book

I bought the silliest book today, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook and have been cracking myself up reading it. It contains such valuable information as, How to Win a Swordfight, How to Hot-Wire a Car, and my favorite so far, How to Escape from Killer Bees. Most of what it tells you to do are pretty obvious things I think you'd know anyway, like "swatting at the bees only makes then angrier." But I've always wanted to know How to Maneuver on Top of a Moving Train and Get Inside. And now I do.

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What's the stupidest thing you

What's the stupidest thing you did as a child? My stupid tale is near the bottom of page 5.

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I'im just all smiles today.

I'im just all smiles today.

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I stand slightly corrected: according

I stand slightly corrected: according to Sanj, if you click on the GO button to the right of the zip code input on Kozmo's home page, you redirect to a page that allows you access the site without logging in. So you don't *have* to login, as I previously complained, but they sure do make it seem like you have to...

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Man riding bike on bridge

Man riding bike on bridge shot to death by CHP after refusing ride [note to self: always accept ride from CHP]

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Oh man, this dialog is

Oh man, this dialog is too funny! This is what I was picturing actually. Just like CB! [hmmm...looks like the link doesn't work quite right, it's under 4.5.2000]

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Kozmo's been one of my

Kozmo's been one of my favorite things since I first heard about it last fall. Always prompt, always simple, they eased the pain of a lonely night with a video, in under an hour. They recently redesigned (everyone else was, so why the heck not?) and I have to say, it is not an improvement. First off, you *have* to sign in to do anything. Period. You can't even browse and see what they're about without creating an account or signing in. If I didn't already have an account, I don't know if I'd appreciate being bullied into creating one sight unseen. They also added a field called "zip code" to the user sign in. Huh? Why make me type this in? You already have my zip code, why do I need to tell it to you? And the two things I was looking for in the redesign, the two things that would have made it easier for me, the customer, to order movies (or any other of their myriad items, I'm now calling them "The Amazon of One Hour Delivery") quickly and easily aren't there. All I really wanted was a "remember me" feature and one-click ordering. I guess I'll continue to use Kozmo, but not with the joy that I used to.

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Never trust a fax that

Never trust a fax that offers to build you a free website on the "Worldwide Internet."

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As if the piles of

As if the piles of tabs at Amazon weren't bad enough...I click on a link that says, Returning Customer. And I sign in. And then I see the button I'm looking for in the upper-right, Your Account. And I click it. And it says, Sign In. grrrr....

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I've been thinking about the

I've been thinking about the ocean a lot recently and why it means so much to me, so I dug out an old favorite book the other night, Gift From the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and was once again ported to the soothing summer days of sandy beach chairs, hot lazy days with the lolling sounds of waves rolling in, tingeing everything with their spray. Sitting on the beach, just looking out at the vast expanse without book or voice to distract, is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.

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I don't know how I

I don't know how I got started with this birthday wishes thing, but since April's a big b-day month in my family, (and my grandmother just got an iMac for her birthday so more relatives are reading my site), I feel compelled to offer the aunts (that's aunts, not "ants") and uncles birthday greetings. So to Marcia, Ruthie, and Billy: Happy Birthday! And to any of you readers, if you're celebrating this month, Happy Birthday to you.

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I saw High Fidelity last

I saw High Fidelity last night, and as I was leaving the theater, I was wondering, how I can love John Cusack so much in the same roles? Tom Hanks plays the same roles film after film and I can barely stomach it, yet Cusack returns again and again, and I pony up the money, again and again. I think it's because Hanks is too old for me, he's too old for me to have a romantic interest in, and he's too old to feel like an older brother. But not John Cusack. He's like an older brother, a best friend, maybe even someone I had a crush on at one point. And it all started such a long time ago, way back with The Sure Thing.

The bad thing about going to the movies last night: it was the second night in a row I had popcorn for dinner.

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hamer: "Have you seen that

hamer: "Have you seen that Jesusify your page?"
haughey: "Yeah. Just like Jesus, it's stupid."

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Birthday props to Jake who

Birthday props to Jake who turns a wise old 28 today!

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Several people have responded to

Several people have responded to my post from yesterday regarding voice over IP instant messaging. Sounds like AOL's got something in the works for AIM, there's a HearMe plugin for ICQ, and there's a product called Firetalk. I haven't checked any of them out yet, but I'm very pleased to find out that they exist. Yippee! I'll let you know how it goes. [thanks peter, andrew, sanj, and keith!]

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Lately I've felt very little

Lately I've felt very little impetus to write anything, almost as if, after several weeks of inspiration and high following SXSW, I've reached the nadir of the creative cycle. The gleam of Texas has faded, the days linger in the back of my mind more as a dream, and my thoughts and actions turn to tasks at hand: building a company and all that that entails. Hiring people, getting group health insurance, filling out forms and paperwork and signing papers and taxes. The soot of the day-to-day has settled upon me, leaving me little time, and apparently even less inclination, to write. I'm sorry.

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Sylvia and I were discussing

Sylvia and I were discussing over the weekend: with all the voice over IP stuff that's happening now, when's someone going to come out with a web-based intercom? I'd like to have a list of people (maybe this is integrated with ICQ?) who are online and available, and with the click of a button, I could speak into my mic and chat with them. Man that would be handy. Since I don't have the time to build any other products, could someone make this for me, and let me know when it's available? Thanks.

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Sometimes the most curious things

Sometimes the most curious things come to pass. And sometimes you do just feel tingly. And sometimes the most curious, tingly things make you happy. And make you smile a huge child-like smile.

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