Note: local time in Oslo is 5:45 AM on August 28th. My blogtimes are always in SFT.
We finished up the W3C CSS meeting today which was one of the longest ones ever. Incredibly mentally and emotionally draining but miraculously enough we somehow resolved all outstanding issues in CSS2.1, which was our main goal.
Yes, as Ian documented, this past Sunday while helping counter-balance Håkon's sailboat as it cruised at a decent clip through the waters near Oslo, the strap I was leaning against to support my center of gravity way over the edge of the boat snapped and I fell into the Oslo harbor but somehow managed to grab hold of the boat. I remember snap, splash, hmmm... my head just got wet, and then my hands were firmly gripping the railing while most of my torso was being dragged through the water. I don't even remember grabbing hold. Reflexes are cool.
After calmly asking David to grab my glasses for me, Jim Bigelow, who has quite a bit of white water river rafting experience, helped me back into the boat. Don't worry, except for a few trivial scratches on a couple of fingers, I'm fine.
That seems so long ago now. Soon I'll be heading to Oslo airport to fly to Newark where I have a five hour layover. Guess I'll get to know Terminal A quite well. Then a direct flight to SFO where I'll finally get to take the new BART line to the City.
No matter how tired I am I am of course going to make my way to the last :C0DE at DNA Lounge where I heard a rumor or two that a number of hooping enthusiasts are going to be spinning their hoops while Amber spins her tracks.
Ok, I think I've kept Håkon up far too long while I slum it at his place to grab my last bit of connectivity before I return to the States.
Check out Jason Kottke 's Standards don't necessarily have anything to do with being semantically correct and all the resulting blog commentary. I touched on this topic a bit in my essay last December (has it been that long?) titled A Touch of Class.
Finally, massive congratulations to Jeffrey Zeldman and Douglas Bowman on their upcoming new project for Apple Computer. I can hardly wait to see what they come up with.
My first week back at work was way too busy, as to be expected. Just finished packing for a trip to Oslo in mere hours for a W3C CSS meeting early next week. I expect network access to be intermittent at best, unless I find some open wifi.
So go read the following while I'm away:
I'm already missing being here and I haven't even left yet. I think my days of business travel are numbered.
Rephrased as I remembered, from a progressive trance track I heard on the drive to work this morning:
Some see the world as it is and ask why, some see the world as it could be and ask why not.
A little googling found the history of this quote.
You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'
Some men see things as they are, and say why, I dream things that never were, and say why not?
I like my version better. I think it is more optimistic.
And so I return from vacation today, never having really left in the physical sense (except for an all too brief but quite enjoyable weekend campout).
My cell phone profile has been switched from Vacation to Work where many more folks can now cause my phone to ring.
I am back in the office and am busy filing my vacation days and editing the introduction for myself and fellow team members to our new group, project and division. It's going to be a busy week, I can already tell.
Amber will be spinning the opening set (9pm-10pmish) at tonight's penultimate installment of :C0DE at the DNA Lounge.
Last week I reviewed Weaving The Web (WTW, first paperback edition) and promised a few choice quotes. Even after picking and choosing, there were quite a few good ones. TimBL just happens to say many clever things.
Here are some choice quotes with followup commentary (post continues...)
Had a great time Saturday night wishing my friend Kevin a happy 30th birthday. Vera brought a bunch of hoops which were a delight as usual. I even convinced Chris to pick up a hoop and give it a try. Happy Birthday Kevin!
Sunday morning came far too soon. Amber and I made it over to the San Francisco Civic Center courtyard at 1pm for the Stand Up! Shout Out! protest where an hour later she gave a great speech about the anti-electronic-music climate that seems to be permeating legislatures country-wide, in spite of the popular uprising that helped defeat the so-called RAVE act.
Having suffered defeat at first, Senator Biden, the senator that introduced the RAVE act as a separate bill, tried again by tacking a very slightly reduced version of the RAVE act onto the AMBER Alert bill. Of course the AMBER legislation passed nearly unanimously, thus the senator was able to circumvent the open legislative process, and inspite of popular opposition, get his RAVE act passed. Since then, the DEA has exceeded critics' worst fears — they've used the RAVE Act to shut down political events whose positions they disagreed with, thus blatantly violating the peaceful assembly clause of the 1st Amendment, both in letter and in spirit.
Armchair civics sidenote: I don't remember seeing anywhere in the Constitution where it granted the Federal Government the jurisdiction to regulate what substances individuals may or may not consume or keep on their person or in their home. Therefore shouldn't any such Federal laws be unconstitutional since according to the 10th Amendment,
any powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people
?
I'm sure I'm missing something because someone must have already tried this argument.
Back on topic. After participating in the protest for a few hours we were starving so we took the MUNI to Church street and walked to Chow for a late lunch which was an utter overpriced disappointment. I mean using spaghetti for a "Thai Noodles" dish? Gimme a break. And the Margerita pizza was decent, but not much better than a decent frozen pizza from the supermarket. So about the only thing I can recommend at the Chow/Park Chow set of restaurants is their fresh fish dinner, which comes with garlic mashed potatoes and green salad next to the very healthy portion of fish and is quite superb. Avoid the rest of the menu, as it seems mediocre and (therefore?) overpriced.
So we took the N Judah the rest of the way to Carl/Cole, walked back to my place, and hopped in the car for a quick jaunt to Ocean Beach. It was unseasonably warm, in spite of the high winds which kicked up enough of a sandstorm to give the dunes an almost desert like feel.
Afterwards we took our sandy selves to the Canvas for a quick snack and claimed a particular padded seating area (which we have affectionately nicknamed) in a room with fishbowl windows onto 9th Ave.
Early monday night we finally had a chance to try the famed Ebisu which typically has a multi-hour wait. Pssst... here's a secret: they open at 5pm for dinner, and even as of 6pm, there was no wait for a party of two (perhaps because it was Monday?), unlike when we left around 7:30, when we had to squeeze our way through the overcrowded lobby and the pavement just outside.
A short walk into nearby Golden Gate park brought us to Shakespeare Park contained therein. Surpised to find the gates still open at dusk, we strolled inside, sat on one of the stone benches and continued talking while watching dusk become twilight.
Finally we were off to join Sarah to celebrate her birthday where there were plenty of familiar faces, and some new folks too. Happy Birthday Sarah!
Call it a protest. Call it a free outdoor day party. Call it a chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Whatever you call it, make your way to Stand Up! Shout Out!, which takes place today at the San Francisco Civic Center courtyard from 12noon until 8pm. Fully permitted, 100% free gathering, non profit event, donations welcome etc.
There will be quite a few illustrious public speakers, and DJs spinning beats in all four corners in the courtyard. Be sure to read the rules!
If you're in San Francisco, instead of reading this, you should be heading over now to the Golden Gate Park Concourse Bandshell for the EFF Freedom Fest 2003 which is on today from noon to 5pm:
Hosted by EFF's John Perry Barlow, the afternoon is a celebration of Bay Area talent and an opportunity for them to share their music.
"The day is to celebrate freedom, and we can't think of a better way to do that than through free music and variety performances in Golden Gate Park," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele.
Hard to believe, but true. One year ago today (minutes ago) I posted my first blog entry. I'll have to review the year to find my favorite posts...
I finished reading 'Weaving the Web' by Tim Berners-Lee a while ago, so it's about time I wrote up a brief review.
In brief, the book can be divided into four distinct parts, each of which cover very different topics.
I got quite a bit of historical value out of the first two parts, since nearly all of the events described occurred before I first became an HTML "hobbyist" back in 1996, and helped explain some of the interactions and positions that I have seen in W3C, having participated as a representative for over five years now.
The third part made for some good mind-broadening reading that every technology-only geek needs to read. Ever heard of a college class called "Physics for Poets"? Well, this third section is kind of like an abbreviated "Philosophy and PoliSci for Techies". Having almost double-majored in philosophy, and over 14 years of first-hand experience with corporate politics, I was happy to see Tim discuss some non-technical issues.
The fourth part is best summed up as a day-dream (note: I did not say pipe-dream). Many portions seem real and make sense when considered on their own, yet there is also plenty of absurdity, some wandering off into the weeds, and a few (or maybe just one or two) crazy ideas that may just be insane enough to work. Actually that last sentence is also a reasonable description of the W3C Technical Reports page.
Conclusion — not so fast. For now I can certainly state that this book is an excellent read for anyone seeking to know more about hows, whys, whens, and whos of the birth and early days of the World Wide Web.
Next: a few choice quotes.
P.S. Yes, folks, reading and writing (even about the Web) are two of my hobbies. Plus publishing this review helps me reclaim those high-speed short-term neurons for other uses. More clearing my head as it were.
If you measure vacation as starting from the minute after you leave work for the day, then I have now entered my second week of vacation.
I've actually been doing a reasonably good job of staying on vacation. First I went off the Net for over 48 hours and spent the time in the outdoors, swimming/wading/jumping around for hours in a pseudo-natural pond (man made, but with plants, naturally green water etc.), and interacting the vast majority of my waking time with humans face-to-face (typically most of my waking time is spent interacting with a keyboard and one or more high resolution display screens).
I cancelled my W3C teleconferences (CSS & HTML) for the week, and have been able to resist writing any more than a small number of messages to W3C mailing lists. I admit, I checked my work email, and sent off just enough emails to keep division transition related activities moving forward, and to delegate of handling such duties to one or more co-workers.
My biggest transgression was spending several hours (through most of the night even) reviewing an online article draft that will supposedly be published anytime now. The draft made numerous false claims which I felt could be particularly confusing if not damaging so there was a clear obligation to speak up in a timely fashion. However the article certainly explained many good points, and here's to hoping that the feedback I and others have given will be sufficient for the author to make the necessary changes before publication.
I've programmed my cell phone with a "Vacation" profile, so that it will only ring audibly if one of four people (or my home phone) calls me. Three of those folks are co-residents of one sort or another (in case of house related emergencies), and the fourth, well, you can probably guess who she is. I think my cell will still "light up" when anyone calls. However, whenever I look at my phone, there it says in the middle of the display in bold letters: Vacation. A nice reminder.
But I digress. My point is, although I've returned home from camping, I've very much adopted a "vacation" mindset. It took me a week just to get around to writing up the first blog entry of the month. And just some minor redecorating, as I've been told a somewhat yellow background is easier on the eyes than stark white. The hyperlink colors have been muted slightly as well. All in all they remind me of the summertime outdoors. I'll probably do something with the layout and font choice when I feel inspired to do so.
Last weekend was nothing short of delightful. I stayed up most of Thursday night packing and getting ready for the weekend. Late the next morning, Nick and Shaina came by Amber's place to pick us up. Fitting all of us plus gear for four into the Saab hatchback was quite a feat.
We arrived mid-afternoon Friday, after a brief stop at the nearest town for burritos to go. Tents setup, we changed into swimsuits and hopped into the pond for a swim.
Sometime Saturday, two days into my vacation, I felt myself beginning to relax. And to my pleasant surprise I spotted a couple of familiar faces: Vera (who already posted about it) and Alex. I met and/or bumped into so many other great people too: Forest, Benji, Araya, Miranda, Ethan, Steph, Matt, Cindy, Memo and more folks than I can remember.
That night provided quite the aural treat, with superb DJs spinning smooth and banging beats all night and following morning long. Sunday's breakfast was enjoyed on the lawn to a mix of chill, downtempo, and other soothing tunes.
That afternoon we somehow managed to pack everything back into the car. Driving back along the dirt road to the campsite, we barely missed a bunch of wild turkeys that had decided to cross the road (no we didn't bother asking them why), and later came upon a young deer that was obviously quite scared and confused and took some encouragement to get out of the way and scamper off down the edge of the road.
Once we made it back to the nearby town, we opted to grab another burrito lunch (though this time at a different place, and sit down in the back patio). On the way home we stopped at a drive through A&W for root beer floats. All in all a great way to start a vacation.
Thanks again to the Friends & Family crew for a great campout. And much thanks to Nick and Shaina for the ride and their wonderful company. Hope to see everyone again next year (if not sooner).
© 1996-2003, Tantek Çelik, All Rights Reserved
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