Monthly Archives: May 2004

100 years of pondering

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Every once and a while I really enjoy reading a book that I don’t get right away. A book that reads well on one level, but has such deep undertones that it isn’t until weeks, months or years later that you actually understand what the author was trying to say. I am always intrigued by the way that authors layer meaing in their works, and how those ideas come back to me later on and suddenly make sense.

My studies in Education have led me to believe that this is really how we learn anything. Step one: read or hear a bit of new information. Step two: tuck it away in your mind. Step three: many years later, remember and make a meaningful connection to your current situation.

I have just finished reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel ***One Hundred Years of Solitude|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060740450/*** and I would love to say that I completely understand it. The story of a fictitious Latin American town and the family that founded it was fascinating. The characters were complex and confusing. I found the plot to be, at times, extreem and unbelievable. But that is the nature of novels. 10th Grade English class is full of lessons on the Hyperbole and its use as a literary tool.

The tale of the six generations of the Buendia family was a captivating one and I can’t wait for the day that it all comes clear.

Night Out

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Every so often Becky and I splurge on a night out in the city. We don’t spend a ridiculous amount of money, but certainly a bit more than we would going to Taco Bell and renting a video (nothing wrong with that either, mind you).

Last night we went to ***Pho Pasteur|http://www.weseatyou.com/restaurants/704/infotomhazen/www/Dunster/index.htm*** in Harvard Square. A Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Pasteur is one of our favorite dining spots. The prices are fairly reasonable, and the food is different and lighter than the usual Asian fare. We had the “Goi Cuon” as an appetizer – pork and veggies wrapped in a chewy rice roll. I had the “Com Chien” (Vietnamese fried rice with shrimp, pork, chicken, eggs, and mixed veggies) as my entree, and Becky had, I think, the “Hu Tieu Xao” (Stir fried flat rice noodles with sliced chicken, red and green peppers, onions, broccoli, green beans and snow peas). Yum.

After dinner we went to hear ***Mike DiBari|http://www.mikedibari.com/index.asp*** at his regular Friday night gig at the Oceana Restaurant in the ***Boston Marriott Long Wharf|http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=BOSLW***. It was his two-year anniversary of his regular gig there, so we came out in support to listen to his music, have some dessert, and relax. Mike’s trio, for those who don’t know, provided the music at our wedding reception and is really fantastic.

No photos from last night, but be sure to keep checking out the recently-renamed ***World Wide Photography|http://gallery.prwdot.org/***, including the ***grab bag|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag***, which I add to periodically with random photos from here and there.

Our Website Survey Results

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Sixteen (16) people responded to our survey before the cut-off date. Here is a summary of the data we received:

Demographics

  • 69% of respondents were female
  • 14 of the respondents were in their 20’s
  • One respondent was in their 40’s
  • One respondent was 70 years of age or older

Computer Usage

  • 63% of respondents said they mainly used Windows to browse our site
  • Only one out of the 10 Windows users did not use Internet Explorer
  • Only two of the six people who did not usually use Windows used Internet Explorer
  • Most of the respondents check their email via the web

Familiarity

  • 38% of respondents do not know either Becky or me very well
  • From the 62% of respondents who do know at least one of us, one knew both of us equally well, four knew Becky better, and five knew me better
  • Three respondents said their interests were more similar to Becky’s
  • Four respondents said their interests were more similar to mine
  • Six respondents said their interests were similar to a little bit of both of ours
  • Two respondents said their interests were not similar to either of ours

Site Viewing Habits and Feedback

  • Most respondents visit our site a few times per week
  • 86% of respondents liked or loved our recent website redesign from Huemor, one person disliked it, and the rest were either indifferent or undecided
  • 44% of respondents would like to see a change in the colors on our site
  • 25% of respondents would like to see a change in the page layout on our site
  • 19% of respondents would like to see a change in the graphics and images on our site
  • One respondent wanted to see a change in the fonts on our site

Site Content Preferences

  • 8 of 16 respondents wanted to see more photography
  • 6 of 16 respondents wanted to see more daily life anecdotes
  • 6 of 16 respondents wanted to see more reviews
  • 5 of 16 respondents wanted to see more crafty stuff
  • 5 of 16 respondents wanted to see more recipes
  • 5 of 16 respondents wanted to see more personal opinions
  • 4 of 16 respondents wanted to see more religious discussion
  • 4 of 16 respondents wanted to see more humor
  • 3 of 16 respondents wanted to see more geeky stuff
  • 3 of 16 respondents wanted to see more family stuff
  • Only one respondent wanted to see more political stuff

Lima Beans

  • 5 respondents said that they like lima beans
  • 4 respondents said that they do not like lima beans
  • 4 respondents said that their like or dislike of lima beans “depends” on other factors
  • 2 respondents indicated that they “though this was about our website!”
  • One respondent told us to “leave the beans out of this.”

Observations

  • Our typical site viewer is a 20-something female, using Internet Explorer
  • I rarely test my coding changes on the browser most people use, and yet I rarely get complaints about our site not working in that browser. I must be doing something right
  • We update our site slightly more frequently than most people visit, so most people are probably reading a chunk of new posts with each visit.
  • People older than their 20’s, for the most part, didn’t respond to our survey. I can think of at least eight people who regularly visit our site, are 30 or older, and did not complete a survey. I have two theories which may explain this. First, as you mature, you have a growing social life, family, and career. This leaves you with little time to browse the web, and even less time to fill out a survey. Second, many of the age 30+ people I can think of may feel that Becky and I know them well enough that their response to the survey is unnecessary.
  • Photography was the most requested content in the survey – 50% of respondents want to see more on our site. However, we already have a great photo gallery, with over 3,500 photos. Isn’t that enough? If you wanted to see more photography, in what sense do you mean?
  • For the 44% of our viewers who wanted to see a change in the colors on our site, what specifically would you like to see change?
  • For the folks whose interests are not similar to mine or Becky’s… how did you end up at our site, and responding to our survey?

If you have any responses to questions I’ve raised, or any other comments on our survey results, please leave them in the comments section of this post by clicking on the ‘comments’ link below.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Photo Manipulation

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In celebration of ***getting my camera back|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/001765***, I have started taking photos of pretty much anything. I’ve created a new album in our photo gallery in which I can put these photos. It’s called ***Grab Bag|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag***. Go ***check it out|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag***.

In addition, I have made a few tweaks to the gallery software itself. You should now notice a pleasant blue shaded background, as well as slick drop shadows underneath each image. I’ve also renamed the gallery “World Wide Photography” for that extra little bit of punch. Bam!

Every One A Capone

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made available its complete list of tax delinquents. You can ***see the top ten business and individual delinquents|http://dorapps.dor.state.ma.us/disclosure/home.asp***, or ***search for delinquencies by delinquent type and/or the city|http://dorapps.dor.state.ma.us/disclosure/home.asp***.

See if your favorite restaurant is on the list, then boycott them until they pay up! Or, see if your friends and neighbors are on the list, and refuse to return that hammer you borrowed until they cough up the dough!

Hours of fun!

Camera Back!

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I got my camera back today! Hooray!

I kept copious notes of the whole process, for the benefit of other Canon users who may run into the “E18” error that ***I experienced|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/001725***:

The Timeline

April 19: I contacted Canon customer service, and spoke to a representative named Donna. After discussing the E18 error on my camera, she entered my personal information into their system, and told me to send the camera in to the Powershot service center, using a traceable, insured shipment method, along with a letter explaining the problem and a copy of the original receipt. As my camera was still under its original 1-year warranty, she said that the problem would most likely be fixed at no charge to me.

April 20: Sent camera via FedEx 2 Day from Mail Boxes, Etc. I included a detailed letter which noted the name of the representative I spoke to, all of my contact information, and the serial number of the camera which I was sending.

April 22: Camera delivered to service center in Elk Grove Village, IL

April 26: Canon performs initial inspection and evaluation of camera.

April 28: Canon completes their repairs to my camera.

April 29: I receive an acknowledgement from Canon that they will be performing the repairs to my camera at no charge to me, under the terms of the 1-year warranty.

also on April 29: Canon sends my repaired camera via FedEx 2-Day.

May 3: FedEx attempts to deliver package to our apartment, but nobody is home, so they leave a Door Tag.

May 4: We sign the Door Tag and FedEx leaves the package later in the day.

The Results!!

I must say, Canon was very meticulous in repairing and returning my camera. Not only did they return the camera, but they also returned the letter and receipt I had originally sent. In addition, they removed the mailing label from the package I had sent, and returned it in their package.

They included a letter with their package, with details of the service they performed. A couple of excerpts:

“The service on your equipment has been completed. As part of Canon’s commitment to its customers, you can be assured that your eequipment has been returned to Factory Specifications.”

“Replaced the optical unit.adjusted,updated,cleaned and ck all functions.”

Canon seems to have done an excellent job bringing the camera back to factory specifications. In fact, it is performing even better than before. When the lens retracts, extends, and zooms, it’s much quieter and smoother than it was when I originally purchased it.

Now that I have had the camera repaired through the warranty, it has a new “repair warranty” which lasts for the next three months. So hopefully, if anything else happens to the camera, it will be soon. I expect that it will be fine, as long as I don’t drop it or bump it or anything like that.

Let the [digital] photography resume! 🙂

The Story Of Us

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Many of you may not know the story of how Becky and I met. I realized that, as far as I can tell, we’ve never mentioned it on the blog. So I thought it might be fun to write it out for all to read.

The first time we met, technically, was during orientation at ***Gordon|http://www.gordon.edu/***. We think, as best we can remember, that it was Monday, August 25, 1997. But that exact day isn’t terribly important, since we didn’t even realize we had met each other until well after we started dating. In any case, we had both taken the opportunity to go on a bicycling tour of the Wenham and Manchester areas, so we bicycled to the Manchester Yacht Club along with a group of other freshmen and some orientation leaders. After that day, however, we really didn’t run in to each other.

Until our junior year at Gordon. We ran into each other frequently towards the end of that year, through mutual friends. Sometimes I would eat with a friend who was eating with a friend who was eating with their friend, who was Becky. 🙂 There was one dance where we met up, and I had wanted to dance with her… but having just hurt my leg (at the dance), I really wasn’t feeling up to it. The pivotal moment, however, came one night in Ferrin Hall.

Becky was in the habit of coming over to Ferrin to watch ***ER|http://www.nbc.com/ER/index.html*** with her friends who lived on the first floor. The second floor had a lounge with satellite TV, and my room was just across the lobby from this lounge. Every so often, I would come over to the lounge to heckle them as they got all weepy over their favorite weekly show. One night, when I was sitting in the lounge, and Becky was watching ER, a commercial for ***Taco Bell|http://www.tacobell.com/*** came on. Becky exclaimed “Man, I would kill for some Taco Bell!” (or something of that nature – Becky) I replied, “Whoah, you like Taco Bell? I don’t know anyone up here [at Gordon] who likes it!” A connection was made. Some trips to Taco Bell ensued. It was a great time for Becky and I not only to enjoy our favorite fast food, but to chat, listen to music, and hang out.

After junior year, Becky and I corresponded over email. She was living on Martha’s Vineyard working at ***the bank|http://www.edgartownnationalbank.com/***, and I was living on campus at ***Gordon|http://www.gordon.edu/***, doing my co-op at ***CBD|http://www.christianbook.com/***

Once we started our senior year, we started seeing each other more frequently. There were more trips to Taco Bell, and frequent inter-apartmental visits, as we lived just a few floors apart in Tavilla Hall. On one fateful day, September 16, 2000, we took a trip into Boston to seek some slightly more advanced Mexican food. We ended up walking around the whole city, as the first two restaurants we had hoped to visit were closed. We ended up eating at ***Burrito Max|http://www.greenlinemenus.com/Restaurant.asp?RestID=304***. Later that night, I visited Becky in her apartment, where I told her how I felt about her… luckily, she felt the same! Phew!

One year and eight months later, we were engaged… five months after that, we were married. And that’s our story so far! Hope you’ve enjoyed it… and remember to check our our ***timeline|http://prwdot.org/?p=timeline*** to help put everything into perspective.

Soda Roast

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I have just finished eating today’s lunch – leftovers from one of Becky’s Crock Pot creations. As usual, it was delicious. I think it’s called Soda Roast, or Coke Roast, or something like that. Here’s the recipe:

qqq|one 3-4 pound roast
one can of coke
one pack of onion soup mix
one can of cream of mushroom soup
cook in crock pot for six to eight hours|qqq

Yum.

In other news…

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***Just remember, when you see this gag in a movie three years from now, you read about it on Yahoo! News first.|http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040503/ap_on_fe_st/party_barge_accident***

Ai-Ya!

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Have I ever mentioned to you how much I love Amy Tan? I do. Her novels based on Chinese-American immigrant families (especially mothers and daughters) always lure me in.

You may have met Amy the way I did, through her Book, The Joy Luck Club, or the movie of the same name. My latest read of hers was The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

Throughout the book we jump back and forth between life stories of a Chinese immigrant (LiuLang) and her Chinese-American Daughter, Ruth. Tan takes the reader on a journey that travels from present-day San Francisco to the early 20th century China and back again.

Although Amy Tan writes about a Chinese mother/daughter relationship, there are universal connections to every reader; dealing with Alzheimer’s, romantic relationships, and much more. I find Tan’s novels to be engaging to read and offer insight into the Chinese-American culture that I would not find elsewhere.