Fray Cafe Sedona
Just a thought from 30 June 2003 about Photos.

I put my photos of Fray Cafe Sedona up yesterday. Here's me kicking things off. Do I always rub my hands toghether when I'm nervous? Yes, I do.

Special thanks to Mark for the pic above. The trouble with being the emcee and the photographer is that you never get photos of yourself on stage. Thanks, Mark!

Flam Chen photos
Just a thought from 28 June 2003 about Photos.

Photos from last night's Flam Chen show. One sentence review: Kinda like Cirque du Soleil if they had fire instead of money. Bonus one word review: Amazing.

Continue reading “Flam Chen photos” »

Knowing spam update
Just a thought from 28 June 2003 about .

In my first 24 hours with the service, KnowSpam has blocked 480 spam messages for me. Can I get an amen?

Not to turn this into a total infomercial, but what the heck. You can sign up now and it's free until 1 January 2004 (and twenty bucks a year after that). Cheaper than more spam programs, and it works better too.

One caveat: It's definitely not for beginners at the moment. For now, if you can't tell your POP from your SMTP, have a geeky friend set it up for you. Or son. (Hi mom.) Anyway, it's a new service, so I'm sure it'll get easier to set up over time.

Knowing spam
Just a thought from 27 June 2003 about .

Today I threw in the towel in my fight against spam.

Here's the thing. I own a dozen or so domains, which means a bunch of my email addresses have been public in the DNS record for years. I also have had sites online since 1995. Back then, it was commonplace to leave your email address in the footer of your web pages, so people could contact you. I also routinely left my email addresses in comments on other people's web pages. All of this left my email box open to every spambot that came along.

The result, eight years later, is that my email is about ninety percent spam. No kidding. A hundred messages a day, and only ten that are actual correspondence.

I tried various remedies over the years. First I set up elaborate filters. I got to the point that checking my mail took five minutes, as my computer chugged through hundreds of filters. Lately I'd been running SpamAssassin on the server and Spamfire on my Mac - double-duty overkill that still let spam over the transom. Worse, I had two places I had to constantly check for spam intrusion.

Today, hopefully, all that ends.

Continue reading “Knowing spam” »

Testing
Just a thought from 26 June 2003 about .

This is just me testing the new Google AdSense program. First impressions: I wish I could serve just one ad, I wish I could alter the design to match my site, and I want a pony.

Damn, it's hot.

Continue reading “Testing” »

Hot hot hot
Just a thought from 26 June 2003 about .

I guarantee, the watercooler conversation today will be all about the weather.

Mazel tov
Just a thought from 25 June 2003 about .

The Scar, my newest {fray} story, has been picked up by the Jewish hipster magazine Jewsweek (online here). It was also linked to by Jewish hipster blog Jewschool. Who knew there was so much Jewish hipsterism online?

The Unusually Useful Web Book
Just a thought from 24 June 2003 about .

My old friend, one time boss, and fellow former HotWiredling June Cohen has published a new book: The Unusually Useful Web Book. I spoke with June when she was writing the book (and I hear I may even be quoted), and it sounds like it's going to fill a real missing link in web books: a no-nonsense, no-dogma, humanistic book about how to make websites. And not just the technical bits – the how-to's and what-for's of planning and making a site from beginning to end, with lots of stories of sites that got it right and why. I've found myself looking for a book like this to recommend to people who are just starting out on building websites for a long time now. I think this one's gonna be it. Congrats, June!

Also, just to avoid confusion, for some reason, in the "from the publisher" bit on the Amazon page for June's book, it talks about Jeffrey Zeldman's newest work: Designing With Web Standards. Zeldman is also an old friend and brilliant writer, and you should buy his book, too. But that doesn't explain why he's being talked about on June's book's page. I hope Amazon rectifies the error soon. (Update: Fixed!)

iChatting
Just a thought from 23 June 2003 about Apple, Geek.

Kevin-John was my first video conferencing victim with the new iChat AV. What fun. What pure, geeky fun.

Continue reading “iChatting” »

Looking up
Just a thought from 23 June 2003 about Stories.

So this weekend I attended the only reunion I'll probably ever bother to go to. Only eight years after my graduation (one of the the benefits of constantly hanging with slightly older people is that you don't have to wait for a round 10), I once again wandered the hills of Santa Cruz with the founding flounders of the Fish Rap Live. It was epic. And private.

I will say this, though. We haven't changed, not one of us. Sure, there were a few wedding bands and a baby present. A few extra pounds and even a little grey hair. But no real changes. Not in any of the things that mattered.

Sitting on the couch watching the conversation fly by, you could have flipped a switch and made it 1995 and no one would have skipped a beat.

I don't know if that's good or bad. I just know it is. And knowing it is incredibly reassuring somehow.

Greetings from Santa Cruz
Just a thought from 23 June 2003 about Photos.

Universes collided this weekend when a UCSC banana slug (the college mascot, dontchaknow) met its logo-ized self on a baseball hat in what used to be called Elfland in the forest of upper campus.

Personally, I got the knit cap.

Home
Just a thought from 16 June 2003 about .

For those following along (hi mom), we made it home, safe and sound. Best things about being home: comfy sheets, San Francisco fog, and happy pets. Worst things: nearly everything else.

Harry's Double D
Just a thought from 11 June 2003 about Photos.

Heather and I averted a small tire emergency thanks to Harry's Double D Tire Corral.

Grand Too
Just a thought from 10 June 2003 about Photos.

Note: When walking the rim of the Grand Canyon, be sure to bring a hat, or else you'll wind up wearing whatever goofy thing is in the trunk of the car.

Greetings from the Grand Canyon
Just a thought from 9 June 2003 about Photos.

Note: The curve in the horizon is from the camera, not the curve of the Earth. I think.

Motor running
Just a thought from 7 June 2003 about .

The Honda is packed with cameras, the maps are printed, and the pets are looking at us wistfully. Heather and I are hitting the road.

June 12-14: The Digital Storytelling Festival

June 13: Fray Cafe Sedona

Hope to see you in Arizona!

Goodbye, Goldie
Just a thought from 5 June 2003 about .

SF Chronicle: Santa Cruz mourns one that didn't get away
Beloved campus koi stolen, possibly grilled.

I knew that fish! A terrible loss, but what a joy it is to see my old paper quoted:

"FRAT Bastards" screamed a headline atop Wednesday's edition of the alternative campus newspaper, Fish Rap Live! It bore a cartoon showing a fraternity kegger/barbecue at the campus koi pond with a frat brother biting into a wide-eyed koi as others are passed out or romping in the pool while a TV camera captures the mayhem.

Any Santa Cruzans reading? I'd treasure a copy of this issue of Fish Rap. (My address is at the bottom of the page.)

Other favorite quote:

Porter, home to UCSC arts programs and "arty" students who embrace an "alternative" philosophy, according to residents.

My alma mater. Sigh.

New in {fray}: The Scar
Just a thought from 3 June 2003 about .

When it comes to Fray performances, each one is like a dare. So when Fray Cafe 3 came around in March, I challenged myself to tell a revealing story. And what could be more revealing than standing up in a Texas bar and talking about your Bar Mitzvah? So that's what I did. (Wanna hear?)

I got so much positive feedback on the story, I decided to add it to the fray. I hope you'll enjoy reading about how I got The Scar, and I hope you'll add your own story to the end.

This story also welcomes a new illustrator into the fray: Witold Riedel. Wiltold's raw, emotional style in these pages captured the turmoil of those teenage years perfectly. To see more of his work, visit his site.

And Rabbi? If you're out there, I've learned a lot since twelve.

The Two Bit Recordings, Part 2
Just a thought from 1 June 2003 about Songs.

Another song from that 1994 session. It's melancholy and dramatic and my voice cracks at the end. Perfect.

MP3: 4mb: Powazek-StormClouds.mp3