One Aging Geek

Friday, April 28, 2006

Google Calendar

A couple of days ago I was thinking about the home remodeling project we're embarked on and decided that Mrs. Aging-Geek and I might need a shareable calendar to keep things organized.

The next thought that occurred to me, since we're both on GMail these days, is "Does Google have a calendar". Sure enough, there is one.

Just today I finally got around to wondering if the Google Calendar is old news that I forgot or ... new. Seems it's pretty new.

Thing seems pretty usable. I've got only a few events on it so far. More later and then we'll see how the sharing stuff works out.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Unfortunate phrasing

The email address associated with my Netflix account just got an email about the new movie "United 93". The email starts out thus:

As someone who enjoyed 9/11, we thought you'd like to know United 93 opens Friday, April 28th in a theater near you.

So. Enjoyed 9/11. Hm...

Of course, the 9/11 they're referring to is the documentary filmed by two French filmmakers who were doing a documentary about a rookie NYC fireman and ended up filming the events of September 11, 2001. Netflix knows I "enoyed 9/11" because I rated the movie on their site.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Home from a sojourn to Sonoma

Just back from an extra long weekend in Sonoma county California wine country with Mrs. Geek. We both were in need of a break. We're not sure what decade we last went somewhere as a couple that didn't involve a family gathering. I picked the place as a birthday surprise for her after listening to a couple of wine-related podcasts: Cellar Rat and Grape Radio.

We had a great time in spite of unseasonable weather. What they call rain, we down on the Third Coast call mist. And we didn't really hit much of that. Just cool temps and an occasional sprinkle.

We stayed in a B&B in Cloverdale, kind of the northern edge of the Sonoma wine country. Did an early Thursday flight to San Francisco. After arrival and nabbing the rent car, we had lunch in the Fisherman's Wharf area, made a picture taking stop at the northern end of the Golden Gate, took a short side trip thru Muir Woods to gawk up at the tall trees, then on up 101 to Cloverdale.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were mostly devoted to finding small wineries and sampling their wares. We got a nice tour from Jerry at Michelle-Schlumberger on Friday and did the Korbel tour on Sunday. Saturday also included a loop thru the county out to the coast. We managed to hit a total of 11 wineries, I think. Shipped a half case home from one place and collected a bottle or two from most of the others. We lugged 10 bottles in two cardboard carriers onto the return flight on Monday.

I can't say I have a very educated palette for wines but I am beginning to be able to distinguish among varietals a bit. Even as a wine novice, this was a very fun and very relaxing time in spite of some extra pressures in our lives at the moment.