Please, can we keep him?

Look at us with the videos all of a sudden! This one comes via the Nerdist blog, and features a cute little AT-AT at play. Enjoy it while I pack for Arkansas--I'll be there tomorrow for the So Many Books, So Little Time Literary Lab in Searcy.

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Star Trek: The Party Generation

Via i09, a hilarious mash-up of Ke$sha's "Tik Tok" and Star Trek: The Original Series. Man, Kirk and company sure did know how to party...

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Jo at Granny Camp

Jo is off at Granny Camp this week. Her first day with the grandparents: the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN. No word yet on whether the boat sank this time or not.

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Time traveling for fun and profit

Here's a GREAT post that takes four revolutionary modern devices--cell phones, MP3 players, handheld video game systems, and laptop computers--and imagines transporting them back to the 1970s to introduce them thirty years early to reap huge financial rewards. The 70s redesigns are fantastic, but the best part is the faux retro magazine ads they make up for the products.

The ad copy is fantastic:

"So the next time you're looking for a way to bring your tunes with you on the go, remember two things: nothing beats the Pocket Hi-Fi, and our company definitely wasn't started by by rogue time travelers from 33 years in the future. Like, at all."

The Pocket Hi-Fi's tag line: Like a party in your pocket. But not in a weird way.

Click on the images to see them larger, or better yet, click through to the original post at Behance Network and enjoy!

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alangratz.com Redesigned

I've redesigned my author web site, www.alangratz.com, once again. This time it was for practical reasons more than aesthetic reasons, but I did take the opportunity to create a site that's a lot cleaner looking, and definitely more in character for me. (I liked the graffiti look of my most recent site, but it never really felt like it was an accurate reflection of me or my books.)

After the death of the last of our Windows XP machines and the failure of Vista and Windows 7 to run most of our older software--in particular, the old version of Dreamweaver I'd been using to build and maintain my web site--something had to give. I couldn't update my web site unless I fired up a buggy, unstable version of Windows XP that was achingly slow and randomly crashed every few minutes!

Not only was I not excited about purchasing the newest version of Dreamweaver for $399.00 (!), I also wasn't quite sure it would actually work on my new Windows operating systems. (Thanks, Microsoft!) Besides, we'd had such an unpleasant time with Vista we were ready to swear off Windows operating systems for good.

So part of our change included switching to a Linux operating system--specifically, Ubuntu. The first thing I tried to find then was a good open-source html editor so I could rebuild my web site, but there wasn't one standout among the programs. I dual booted Linux with Windows so we could use either one, which meant we could still use a Windows-based html editor if we had to, but Wendi and I have both enjoyed Ubuntu quite a lot and we're really trying to eliminate any rebooting into Windows just to use one particular program. (We still have to do so to use our scanner. We were still Windows users when we bought it, and had no idea Canon refuses to support Linux when we made the switch.)

Enter "cloud computing." For the uninitiated, cloud computing is the term used to describe working with programs and services that are entirely online, not a program you've loaded onto your own computer. Blogging services like the one we use here, Blogger, are good examples of cloud computing. The only thing we need is a computer with internet access. The rest Blogger (and its parent company Google) takes care of. Google Docs, Google Calendar, GMail--Google is staking a claim to indespensible cloud computing programs, and we're following right along.

As a matter of fact, the Blogger interface we use for our blog has been so easy to use, modify, and update, we thought, "Hey, why not just build the new web site out of Blogger?" So that's exactly what I did. When you click through, the web site will hopefully look more like a web site than a blog--which is all trickeration done with lots of template hacks. The new web site is, essentially, a blog in which only one blog post is shown at a time, thus making it look like individual static pages. I took out the timestamp, the comments, and the forward and backward buttons, and there you have it--a web site built in the cloud.

Not only does the decision save me money, it actually makes it easier to update my web site. Now, instead of downloading a page from my remote server, editing it in Dreamweaver, then uploading it back onto the server, I merely call up my web site, click the edit button on whichever page I want to modify, make the changes, save, and I'm done! I'm also not tethered to one particular computer with my html editor loaded on it. Now I can access the inner workings of my web site anytime anywhere I have a computer with internet access. And it'll be easy to add new pages when Fantasy Baseball comes out next year--essentially all I have to do is add new blog posts.

There are drawbacks to cloud computing, to be sure. You're essentially saving your original on someone else's server, which could go down or out of business at any time. (Google is a pretty safe bet not to do either, but it could still happen.) There are privacy and security concerns as well when your material is hosted elsewhere, but those aren't a big deal to me. I'm not dealing in state secrets or financial matters. For my purposes as a lowly author who wants to spend more time writing novels than web pages, cloud computing seems like a perfect fit.

So there you have it. The changeover is complete, and hopefully I won't have to be doing a major site redesign any time soon. Give the new site a look and kick the tires for me. If you find any problems, do let me know!

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Japan Trip - Kyoto Day 3 - Sweets Paradise

The third night we were in Kyoto we went up to the eighth floor of a building at the heart of the city's commercial district in a quest to discover the meaning of "Sweets Paradise," which we had seen advertised before in Harajuku in Tokyo but never investigated.

Anything that promised to be a paradise for sweets meant paradise for Jo, so we went in to have a look.

What we expected was a traditional sweets shop, where you buy pastries and things from glass display cases.

What we found instead was a sweets buffet. For roughly fifteen dollars (about eight for kids), you could purchase a ticket that allowed you to eat anything and everything you could for eighty minutes. You read that right: eighty minutes to stuff yourself full of as many sweets as you could handle. A place like this would go bankrupt in America.

In addition to the main sweets buffet with all kinds of cakes and pastries, Sweets Paradise also featured a chocolate fountain...

...a gelatin buffet...

...a sno-cone machine, soft serve ice cream machine, even a popcorn station. They had actual dinner-type food, just in case you wanted to eat something real before you had your dessert.

They even had a salad bar! (Of sorts.)

But honestly, most of the customers--almost all young women, it must be said--stuck to the desserts. When Jo saw the spread, she begged and begged to get a ticket. What the heck, we figured: we were on vacation, and this would undoubtedly be a highlight for our little sugar fiend. Wendi signed on too, and we bought two tickets to (sweets) paradise. As there was nothing I would eat, I merely sat back and documented the experience.

A ticket machine at the door dispenses slips with your deadline stamped on them. We checked in at 4:40 p.m., and Wendi and Jo had until 6:01 p.m. to do as much damage as they could to the buffet and their tummies.

As soon as she could grab a plate, Jo was faced with a monumental quandary: where to start!?

She started with chocolate cake, strawberry cake, and an orange.

She couldn't resist dipping something in the chocolate fountain, of course, so her first plate also included a chocolate covered marshmallow or three.

Jo already approves of Sweets Paradise.

The buffet also had a soft serve ice cream machine, which had all the flavors written out in Japanese. Jo was distraught--order an ice cream you aren't sure of in Japan, and you're likely to end up with flavors like soy bean flour or green tea. I swooped in to the rescue, grabbing one of the Sweets Paradise buffet-stockers and hauling them over to help us identify which spigot produced chocolate. Then it was off to the toppings bar to give Jo's ice cream some extra zest.

With eighty minutes, you don't have to pile each plate full. There's plenty of time to go back, and back, and back.

One of Wendi's plates, with a bit more experimentation and variety. According to Wendi, one thing the Japanese don't seem to get right is cheesecake--what looks like cheesecake (and is often called cheesecake) isn't really what passes for American cheesecake. In Japan it's more like, well, cake.

Wendi tries what she hopes is strawberry ice cream, with corn flakes sprinkled on top.

Look at Wendi, with a plate of noodles and greens! Jo shows her how to really get your money's worth at Sweets Paradise.

Sharing was of course allowed, even encouraged.

We sat near the window in the restaurant, which gave us a really nice view of a major intersection in downtown Kyoto. The Kyoto Takashimaya, an upscale department store with an incredible food court in the basement, sits across the street.

We could also see a big digital clock on the building on the corner, which was a great way to mark how much time was left on our ticket. I would occasionally point out the window and tell Jo time was running out, which sent her scurrying back to the buffet to try something new. She's still got an hour left at this point!

All in all, it has to be said that Jo was, indeed, in paradise.

And in the end, Wendi and Jo put away their fair share of sweets.

A thumbs up from Jo. She would tell us later that she couldn't figure out why her tummy hurt, but ultimately nothing could dull the ecstasy of Sweets Paradise for her--certainly a highlight of her visit to Japan.

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Colonel Mustard in the Library?

A 74-year-old woman in Boise, Idaho has been busted for pouring condiments into the book drop box of her local library. From the AP story:

Police said a 74-year-old woman arrested after pouring mayonnaise in the Ada County library's book drop box is a person of interest in a yearlong spree of condiment-related crimes of the same sort. The woman was arrested Sunday at the library, moments after police said she pulled through the outside drive-through and dumped an open jar of mayonnaise in the box designated for reading materials.

The woman was released from the county jail and faces a misdemeanor charge of malicious injury to property. Police did not disclose a motive.

Boise police said the woman is under investigation for at least 10 similar cases of vandalism since May 2009. Library employees have reported finding books in the drop box covered in corn syrup and ketchup.

I'm glad the police were finally able to ketchup to her.

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Japan Trip - Kyoto Day 3 - Sannen-zaka and the Philosopher's Path

After spending the morning at Kiyomizu-dera, we walked north through a string of back streets and temples in East Kyoto toward an area known as the Philosopher's Path. First though, we had to navigate two sets of steps known as Sannen-zaka ("Three-year slope") and Ninen-zaka ("Two-year slope"). It's said that if you slip and fall on the first, you'll have three years of bad luck; to slip and fall on the second brings two years of bad luck. Fortunately for us, none of us fell--which was a minor miracle, considering how many scrapes and tumbles Jo took as she skipped, danced, and otherwise blithely meandered her way through Japan.

The steps proved photogenic, and the narrow pedestrian avenue between them was lined with interesting little shops and restaurants in older style Japanese buildings, reminiscent of the Edo period.

 

These little fellows lined the path to a shop that specialized in collectibles based on Studio Ghibli anime like Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo.

A row of tanuki welcome visitors to the restaurant at the top of these steps. Tanuki are Japanese raccoon dogs reputed to be mischievous and jolly, masters of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded. They have one distinctly prominent feature that's a bit delicate to discuss here on a family blog, but if you look at the tanuki there in the bottom of the picture, you'll see that those two round things underneath its belly are not its feet...

Beyond the sannen-zaka and ninen-zaka are a string of temples, making East Kyoto worthy of a day or more of wandering about.

I believe this is the entrance to Nanzen-ji.

I loved this beautiful old tree. The Japanese take such pride in cultivating and preserving natural works of art like this, and this tree clearly had a place of pride at the front of this establishment.

There were even posts to hold the branches up. If you look closely, you can also see a wire that comes down out of the tree and wraps around a pad around the branch to help support it. An awful lot of work goes into preserving trees like this, even in places that aren't parks or sanctuaries.

A big torii gate down a busy street.

And a smaller concrete one hidden down a side street.

The entrance to a temple near the beginning of the Philisopher's Path.

A neat little tunnel under the road. Jo's listening for tengu, Japanese monster spirits that, oddly, only made noises when she was turned away from her father.

A quiet little area on the way to the Philosopher's Path.

And, finally, the Philosopher's Path. The name of the two-kilometer path refers to Nishida Kitaro, a Japanese university professor who used to take a daily walk down this path in the 1930s and 1940s.

The path runs along the length of a small, slow stream, which offered beautiful reflections of the carefully tended flora along its banks.

Along the way are a few shops and restaurants, but it's a remarkably non-commercial stroll for a Japanese touristy spot. We saw more neighborhoods and homes than we did businesses along the way.

An ad for one of the few businesses we did see--although we have no idea what it's advertising. After a pleasant afternoon of walking Kyoto's eastern temple district we hit Pontocho one more time trying to catch more glimpses of geisha. Afterward we grabbed dinner and then went back to our great Kyoto youth hostel, K's House, for a relaxing evening of three-handed spades. A lot of walking that tuckered us out, but all in all a really great day in Kyoto.

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