Last night I had good sushi. It was a place called Zushi Puzzle on Lombard St. and San Francisco. I knew it would be good ahead of time. Know how? Yelp.com told me. It's a site that can guide you to the right restaurants and insult you in the process. I like the user profiles because it allows me to psychologically analyze all the reviewers and decide how much I care about what they think.

For example, look at the third review on this page. Why did he write so much? Makes me think he’s just some bored old dude. His profile confirms my suspicions:

1. He has no blogs that wouldn’t bore me to death? Strike 1.
   
2. He is an old curmudgeon? Strike 2.
   
3. He never drinks beer and coffee at the same time? Strike 3, he’s out! (I do that every morning on 101S.)
   

There. We don’t connect--he takes in the scenery and savors life. I have the attention span of an over-caffeinated terrier in heat and ignore the details in my foolish youth. I’ll just go ahead and discount his opinions on this and any other matter. Although, I’ll give it 19 years and I may have to revisit some of these cinematic musings over weak Earl Grey and salty tuna subs.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve spent entirely too much time the last few weeks looking for sources for customized giveaways for our company. I found a great site for personalized pens called Blueberry Ink that has a large variety of pens at great prices and other cool stuff to personalize with your company, school, team or other logos. Another find is Branders, which seems to have the largest selection of customizable stuff I’ve seen. We ordered some black chef aprons for a promotion from them. Finally, we ordered thousands of vari-colored glow bracelets from GlowProducts.com for a concert we’re sponsoring on June 10 so everyone can see our name in lights while waving their arms to their favorite bands at Live 105's BFD.

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve heard tales of kids eating crayons, paste, watercolor paint chips and Play-Doh, but I didn’t realize that people actually wanted to smell like Play-Doh. I don’t know of anyone who would wear this stuff, or more importantly, who would buy it. Wouldn’t it just be cheaper to smear some Play-Doh on your neck and call it your new cologne? Does anybody think that Eau de Play-Doh is a good idea? I really want to know.

Thanks Consumerist.

Mercedes

Posted by Mercedes at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently discovered a spiffy jewelry designer through Fashionologie. The owner of day-lab, Amy Shutt, carries a bunch of stuff from cool independent designers, but she also makes and sells her own jewelry. Everything looks, and I would assume is, handcrafted in small quantities. Everything is very affordable – I haven’t seen anything above $40 (which is key for me, because after all, I may love Bing Bang, but their astronomical price range keeps me at bay).

Her earrings are especially cool. The retro gold and white ones are on my to-buy list.

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The gigantic hole I've been pouring my money into recently has been a home arcade cabinet. It's going to be awesome once my buddy and I finish it. (No, seriously, we will. This won't be like the time it took me a year to build three barstools.)

I'm so excited. I've got a box of buttons and joysticks poured out all over my bed right now. It's going to run all the games of my childhood, be they arcade, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis or Atari 2600. It's going to play mp3s (in fact, it has one giant red button whose sole purpose is to play Manfred Mann's version of Bob Dylan's The Mighty Quinn. Don't ask.) I think the biggest innovation is going to be something I'm shocked arcade machines don't have already: cupholders.

One of the hardest parts so far has been figuring out which software to use. All of the systems I mentioned above (plus zillions more) have their own emulators, but you need something to tie it together and make it easy to use, so that every time someone wants to play a game I don't have to get up off the couch and show them how. That's where a class of programs called front ends come into play. I spent hours and hours downloading and setting them up, configuring .ini files, and doing all kinds of stuff I thought I had left behind when Bill Gates promised we were done with DOS back in 1995. (Well, I was done with DOS before I started, being a Mac bigot from way back, but that's another post.)

I'm here to tell you that the best front end--far and away, not even close--is one called Maximus Arcade. Unlike most of the others, it's not free/open source, but it's worth every penny of the $25 it costs. It looks really really good, it's a (relative) breeze to configure, and (most importantly) it's simple to navigate once it's set up. The problem with most of this stuff is that it's designed by geeks for geeks, and not enough attention is paid to a graceful user interface that drunkards at a party can figure out.

Maximus Arcade definitely knows its audience.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you've ever seen a Fornasetti image, you’ll never forget his style. Piero Fonasetti's inventive use of graphics, architectural details and period touches transformed the most basic items to iconic objects of desire. Fornasetti spent his life in Milan, Italy and created over 11,000 items and graphic images, many of them featuring the face of an opera singer of the day, Lina Cavalieri.

His Julia plate features a woman's sensuous visage imposed on clock face. It is part of the ultra luxe Rosenthal China collection which collectors can buy new or used. Fornasetti’s clever collection of neckties (and perfect Father's Day gift) range from mathematical images to celestial ones, each one an exciting design play on what is often simply a boring fabric noose.

Even Fornasetti’s website is a visual delight. You must pluck a skeleton key and maneuver it in a keyhole to enter his world.  To learn more about the artist, there are lots of Fornasetti research results on Become (blatant plug!) but my favorite is an article in a hip magazine called designboom.

My own deep desire is to sleep in Fornasetti's bed. My husband's fine with that as long as he can come along! Actually, Fornasetti's son is keeping the dream alive by renting out rooms in Piero Fornasetti’s elegant guest apartment in Milan for vacationers seeking total Fornasetti immersion. The New York Times wrote about it last year in a travel article.

Any family members or friends reading this post should also note that any Fornasetti item would make a lovely birthday or other gift! There is also an illustrated book about Fornasetti called Fornasetti:Designer of Dreams featuring many of his whimsical, amusing, fantastic and haunting designs. The only problem is the book is out of print. I've put in a request on alibris, which specializes in hard to secure books to let me know when one turns up.

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have an addiction to hair care products and cosmetics. My linen closet is stuffed with the latest and greatest shampoos, lotions and lip balms. I guess that’s what happens when your mom’s a cosmetologist. Besides checking the websites of my favorite brick and mortar stores for sales, I also like to check out fashion and beauty product related blogs. One of my favorites, The Budget Fashionista has guides, tips, sale postings, and links to online coupons. Another great find, DeLush reviews beauty products and fragrances, and I like checking out the roundtable discussions to see what people have to say about their favorite products. This blog is my favorite beauty product blog since their reviews cover a variety of products and price ranges from drugstore lip balms to expensive soaps.

Mercedes

Posted by Mercedes at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is cool. USB makes everything better, doesn't it? I mean, yeah, if you already have a turntable, you could just plug it in through your microphone jack, but this has USB!

On a slight tangent: I love my iPod and all, but when I think about how much of my music taste was formed as a 10-year-old flipping through my dad's records, I really wonder how my generation is going to pass on our musical legacy to our kids. Clicking the "Santana" icon wouldn't have been nearly as appealing to me as picking up the big picture of the badass lion. Even CDs, with the reduced area for cover art, still provide a sense of ownership, and communicate that you thought this music was worth owning, and devoting money and shelf space to. With mp3 (or AAC, or ogg, or whatever you crazy kids are into) there's no token of ownership. Even if you did pay for them (and you DO pay for them, right? Right...)--and unlike with a burned CD or a cassette tape--there's no distinction between what you bought and a bootleg copy.

So you're left with a bunch of super-convenient yet impersonal bits on a hard drive. "Scrolling through Dad's iTunes library" just doesn't have the same emotional connotations. I can still smell my dad's records. If I can smell my iPod, something's gone horribly wrong.

Oh well. It can't be long before the people responsible for this come out with a can of "That Old Record Jacket Smell."

(via Random Good Stuff)
Aram

Posted by Aram at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ah, the summer is almost here. It is the season for taking the top off my Jeep. It is the season for absent-mindedly leaving expensive possessions in my car and having them immediately stolen by dirty, dirty thieves. I've had more stuff ganked over the past 6 or so years than I have ever owned at any given time. So, now I register all my prized possessions at juststolen.net. It's a site by law enforcement officers designed to help people recover stolen goods. Of course, it requires law enforcement agencies to use it extensively for it to help out in a significant way. I'm not sure if that's really the case, but at bare minimum, storing identifiable information about your expensive property is a good idea should anything ever happen. From my experience, the more you can put into the police report the better.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll admit it. I am a foodie. I can’t get enough of my cooking shows, cookbooks, and cool kitchen gadgets. I am a big fan of the PBS cooking shows on Saturday mornings, and I always want to try a lot of the recipes that I come across.

As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, it is not hard to find wines that will go well with the meals that I like to create. However, sometimes it is hard to find ingredients that I need to do some of the recipes that will pair perfectly with that awesome bottle of Merlot. Sure, there are gourmet food stores, but with today’s soaring gas prices, I really do not feel like driving all over God’s creation looking for one, and there is no guarantee that it will have what I am looking for.

The world wide web to the rescue!

Recently, I have been in the market for some Fleur de Sel (flower of salt)--considered the caviar of salts. It originates in France, and can be only harvested during certain times of the year and when the weather is just perfect. If you haven’t ever tasted it, I would highly recommend that you do so. In my online search, I ran across a really cool site that not only has Fleur de Sel but just about every other gourmet luxury there is: Beluga caviar, French truffle mushrooms, foie gras, and balsamic vinegar (the real stuff, not the stuff you get in the grocery stores). I was like a kid in a candy store. Caviar & More has it all, although it has not cornered the market on gourmet products. At Gourmet Foodstore, you can pre-order fresh truffle mushrooms. Does anyone out there have $725.00 I can borrow?

Jennifer Nelson
Receptionist/Administrative Assistant

Posted by Jennifer at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“Dude, at this rate, Best Buy should go out of business soon.” My friends jokingly tell me that my apartment will soon become a warehouse for electronic gadgets. I’m beginning to worry that my “Compulsive Gadget Acquisition Disorder” (a close variant of AJ’s G.A.S.) will take over my life and my living space soon. Until that happens, however, I plan to fully enjoy my consumerist hedonism.

So here’s my next object of affection: Victorinox’s SwissMemory 512: it’s classy, useful (if used), and handy. SwissMemory® has 512 MB of USB storage and a few standard Swiss knife features, plus the guarantee and status of a Victorinox product. The same product comes with 1 GB, 256 MB or 128MB of storage space.

I recently bought an Apple iPod Shuffle (1 GB) to use as a USB memory stick, so I’m holding out on buying the SwissMemory 512--for now. I'll let you all know when I finally give in.

Mustafa

Posted by Mustafa at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With the cost of gas averaging $3.31 here in California, my wallet is starting to feel the effects of my weekly fill up. I’ve been trying to economize, but it doesn’t help that I’m planning to drive cross country this summer. I’ve found that Gas Buddy helps me find the cheapest gas stations, along with AAA's Fuel Calculator to help calculate the cost of my trip. Or maybe it’s time that I trade in my faithful Saturn for a car that can run on biodiesel. What's not to love about a car that smells like donuts and french fries?

Mercedes

Posted by Mercedes at 01:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're a new parent you are probably aware that all babies are fussy and have bouts of crying. Your baby may even have colic. There is a solution for the times when your rocking chair isn’t enough and that is: gripe water. Gripe water is a miracle tonic from Europe; that cures colic within a few minutes. Gripe water is made with ginger, fennel, and baking soda and is safe and natural. Some manufacturers use alcohol as one of the ingredients, which I don’t recommend. We are happy with Baby’s Bliss brand of gripe water. My wife and I have been so much more happy and rested since we discovered gripe water. You can find it online, and probably even in a store near you. I have included a photo of our baby boy after gripe water. I don’t have a photo of him when he is in full meltdown, but I bet you know what a really upset baby looks like.

Ben Cooley
Senior Researcher

Posted by Ben at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently got new subscriptions to W, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Elle. I had originally planned on ordering them either by signing up through those annoying little subscriptions cards tucked in every magazine or through Amazon.

That is, until I did a little research and saw that people were getting yearly subscriptions for $3-8 through magazine discount sites instead of the traditional $15+ range. My biggest hesitation with those sites were: what if I didn’t get my subscription or the merchants were scammers? How do you know which ones are credible, which ones are scams, and which will give you half decent customer service? I decided to avoid the hassle, and ended up ordering Elle from Amazon and began the long wait for the first issue to arrive (I ordered in November, and the projected date was for April. Wow.)

In the meantime, someone on a forum recommended a seller on eBay with great feedback and a solid refund policy. I canceled my Amazon order and bought W, Vanity Fair, and Elle from her. She threw in Wired as a bonus. Each yearly subscription was less then $5 (including shipping), and they all came pretty quickly. If you want a magazine subscription, eBay definitely has the lowest prices and you’ll get some protection through eBay/PayPal if anything goes wrong.

(Mother’s Day is rapidly approaching, and even if you have the perfect gift all picked out, you can always pick up something extra for your mom, like a subscription to Oprah or Real Simple or whatever she is interested in)

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (197) | TrackBacks (0)

I had always assumed that, because I didn't care for the coffee-themed milk beverages churned out by my local Starbucks, I didn't like coffee. Last year I found that that wasn't the case at all, and that I just needed to heed my Armenian heritage and take my coffee "hot as hell, black as night and strong as death," as my new favorite saying goes.

I quickly discovered that the coffeemaker in our office's shared kitchenette spewed out a beverage that can be charitably described as (to paraphrase Douglas Adams) almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee. So I started bringing my own in, and developed a little ritual involving a small, low-quality French press that, while turning out decent-tasting coffee, forced me to chew the last few sips.

This weekend, my girlfriend (a former barista herself) bought me my new prize possession: the Aerobie Aeropress. That's right: Aerobie. And I think it's safe to say that it represents the same degree of improvement over standard coffeemakers that the original Aerobie did over regular frisbees.

The big difference is the full immersion of the grounds (like a French press) and the use of air pressure (like an espresso machine, but without steam). The full immersion allows maximum extraction of flavor from the grounds, while the pressure allows for a steeping time of only 10 seconds, which keeps the coffee from getting bitter. It basically makes an espresso, which you can make into an Americano by adding hot water.

I figured it would make a good cup of coffee and all, but the hype is actually pretty right-on: the coffee it brews is flavorful and noticeably less bitter. The design is simplicity itself, and cleaning it involves practically no effort. With a hot water tap, it takes about a minute from start to finish. It's really light--you could take it backpacking. And it's $30.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 10:49 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Malcolm Gladwell would love this. The orb sits in your room and gives you a visual indicator of any data that can be sent from the web. Some of the standard channels (pdf) include weather, traffic, the S&P, but what excites me is the ability to set up my own channel.

This could easily convey information that is useful for taking action right now. If you set it up for weather, the orb can tell you whether you'll need your umbrella today. If you set it up for tracking the stock market, the orb can tip you off on whether to buy or sell right now.

My excitement, however, is over the benefit of seeing the orb change over time. Having this in my room would allow me to subconsciously pick up on interesting trends and it would allow me to come up with predictions based on some knowledge of an event. For example, if I set it up to track visits to my band's MySpace profile, I can easily see the effect of gigs and various promotional campaigns (flyering, e-mail announcements, mentioning it in this blog). Of course, you could simply accomplish this with data mining and charts and graphs, but who wants to do that? I adhere to the principles of Smart Laziness. Also, what data mining couldn't accomplish is the ability to make connections that can't be captured with online statistics. Maybe people come play our music as an escape when there are depressing stories in the news? Only I would be able to make that connection over time with my Ambient Orb.

I’ve thought of plenty of other great uses for it:

• Volume of visits to my MySpace profile
  
• Daily price of gasoline within a range
  
• Number of Google news stories about the war in Iraq today
  
• Remaining balance in my online checking account
  
• Number of e-mails in my inbox
  
• Probability of the Red Sox beating the spread tonight based on a number of factors I specify and track
  
• The number of beers left in my fridge
  

AJ

Posted by AJ at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve loved photography all my life, but have never owned a good camera. However, I’ve been lucky enough to get a chance to use the best of the lot, courtesy of my gracious professors and teachers, who loaned theirs out to me. I had been thinking of buying a good SLR camera for quite a while, and last week, the moment felt right. The Nikon N80, one of the best amateur SLR film cameras on the market, had long graced my daydreams. That was until I set eyes on the Nikon D70s, Nikon’s prosumer digital SLR camera and a thing of immeasurable beauty and intense sexiness. I was tempted, but in severe denial of the existence of any such blasphemous emotion (read my first blog post for a brief history of my passionate allegiance to film.) In my defense however, the digital devil has many more temptations at his disposal than any mechanical alternate ever will. The thought of owning a great digital photo printer to supplement the digital camera was my tipping point.

I was shaken, but not broken. A personal shopping adage that I have long adhered to is this: “When in sustained and frenzied doubt about which item to pick, get both. You’ll eventually end up owning both of them anyways.” So I got the Nikon N80 and the Nikon D70s. After some research on the issue, I have realized that film and digital photography are different forms of artistic expression. They both have their challenges and strengths, and provide unique tools and opportunities to bolster creativity.

Life with both a digital and a film camera is pretty sweet. You don’t have to buy separate lenses for both camera bodies, since lenses that work on film SLRs can also be used on the digital outfit with almost no loss of quality or sharpness. (Check individual brand names and models to confirm this; it is true for almost all Nikon models.) However, be careful because it doesn’t work the other way around. Lenses developed specifically for digital cameras will leave huge black corners on the image if used on a film camera. So, if you already own a film SLR with a good set of lenses, buying a digital SLR is not that heavy an investment after all.

Mustafa

Posted by Mustafa at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did you know that you could turn one common looking penny into $80,000 overnight?

I thought I would dedicate my first entry to our blog’s namesake: “Pocket Change.” When I was a kid my dad would come home every day from work and dump his pocket change into a large box. It’s a tradition I carry on today. Over my early years, due to a lack of Coinstars, we accumulated a large quantity of coins in our home. For my eighth birthday, my parents got me started on numismatics with a simple coin collecting book for, of all things, pennies. My first task was to attack my dad’s prodigious coin repository and fill out the slots in the coin book. I would put duplicate pennies and other change into paper coin wrappers for deposit at the bank. Now that I am older and wiser, I wonder if the coin collecting book was my dad’s sly way of getting me to clean up his own pocket change...

In the years that followed, I would fastidiously examine each penny I received back in change, picked from my dad’s coin box or spied lying on the street (I didn’t bother with condition) to see if it would help fill out a missing slot in my collection. Some of the coins dated back to as early as 1906. During my quest I learned that the letters D, P, S and W (mint marks) below the dates referred to the mint where the coin was produced and that the one cent coin went through various changes over the years. As a kid this was all very exciting and I looked forward to the finally completing my collection. However, I came up short for any pennies for the year 1943. This was odd since I had found numerous pennies in the years shortly before and after 1943. In the end, I had a complete collection of one cent coins from 1914 to 1976, but still without that elusive 1943 penny. To finally complete my collection, I sought out the services of a professional coin dealer and that was when I discovered that I had to pay a whopping $0.15 for each 1943 “steel” Lincoln Wheat Penny (also referred to as the War Penny.) You see, due to the war, copper was in high demand so the U.S. Mints produced the one-cent pieces in steel that year. However there were an extremely limited number of 1943 copper-alloy cents created in that year and now they are worth thousands of dollars to collectors with one being sold at auction in 1986 for $82,500!

So the next time a cashier hands you over that $0.03 in change, be sure to check the date next to Mr. Lincoln, you may have just received a very lucky penny.

Greg Haslam
Director of Business Development

Posted by Greg at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After forgetting about Mother’s Day last year and being chewed out by my dad for not sending my mom a card, I resolved to show my parents that I’m not a total ingrate. I decided to search for crafty activities for my mom to become involved with since she is very artistic and loves taking classes on new things. I discovered the perfect present, which is a voucher for an Introduction to Stained Glass course through Signature Days. It’s a great site for finding fun activities and experiences for yourself and your loved ones in locations across the country – from facials to surfing lessons.

Hopefully on May 14th (that’s next Sunday, kids!) this present will get me out of the doghouse and back into my mom’s good graces.

Mercedes

Posted by Mercedes at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I wore my first pair of high heels in the 8th grade. They were a pair of very sensible black pumps, of a soft suede-ish material, with a rounded toe and a thick 1-inch heel. Classic and demure…very Audrey Hepburn. They were my special occasion shoes. Flip flops, Rod Lavers, and white Jack Purcells ruled my feet otherwise.

In college, I became obsessed with wearing heels to compensate for a lack of a couple inches in height. Slipping my feet into a pair of 3 inch heels was such a rush. It instantly made me feel more beautiful, graceful, and powerful. I endured years of blisters and crippling foot pain (stupid, I know!) My feet were invincible, and the more torture my feet went through, the more resistant they became to pain. But then one day, as I was surfing MakeupAlley (one of my favorite fashion/beauty resources), I stumbled across a thread where a girl posted the most delicious pair of ballet shoes. I was tempted, but I resisted. After all, the website was in Japanese and I had no idea where to buy the shoes from. A week later, the same girl posted a rave review of how comfortable the shoes were and how cute they were, and I caved.

I found them at Shoefly for $145 (not exactly cheap). I hunted down a 15% off code (“moxie”) along with free shipping, and amazing customer service. The shoes arrived 2-3 days later by USPS Priority, perfectly packaged. My review for these shoes: Every time I see them, I become giddy. Every time I slip them on, I feel like a princess. It’s ridiculous. If I could I would wear them into the shower and then to bed. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. More so than Reefs or any pair of sneakers. Plus, they are adorable. I don’t know much about Repetto, except that it is a French brand that makes ballet shoes that are known for their comfort and style. My flats run about half a size big. I foolishly bought a whole size bigger then my usual shoe size, so they are a little big on me and flop around a bit when I run every morning to catch my train.

In the meantime, give your feet a break and buy some nice, soft ballet shoes. Flats are in with a vengeance. See: here, here, and here. I highly recommend Repettos, and although I haven’t tried them on, I’ve also heard good things about French Sole/London Sole (technically the same brand), although supposedly, French Sole has better quality and is less pricey.

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I signed the papers for my car at about 7:30 on a Wednesday night. By 8:30 Thursday morning, it had been vandalized by what I can only assume were miscreant youth. What they lacked in respect for the social compact they made up for in pumpkin-throwing ability. My poor car was bashed in all over, and the insurance company's* office hadn't even been open in the time that I had owned it.

A less scrupulous person would have added the car to his policy and then reported the damage. But I chose the honest route, figuring that an agent with whom my family had been doing business for 40 years would show me the same good faith.

Two months later, I still didn't have a driver's side mirror, and my trunk was starting to rust around the dent. They hadn't paid the claim, but they hadn't denied it, either. They had simply given me the full benefit of what they learned in Customer Indifference 101. I couldn't believe these guys. My agent would tell me one thing, the adjuster would tell me another--once I actually had to get them on a conference call myself so that they would stop failing to talk to each other.

The problem was that my agent wanted to pay the claim (or so he said), but the company's bureaucracy wouldn't let him do it. It was apparent that the adjusters had no interest in approving my claim since their job was not to keep me happy, but to watch the bottom line. From the outside, I could see that the company was at cross-purposes with itself, and no one seemed to want (or be able) to fix it.

Well, someone had to care, right? Surely, someone had to see the big picture. Acting on advice from my dad (who once settled a health care claim this way), I went straight to the top. A couple of minutes of online research got me the number of the CEO. I didn't get him, but I got one of his assistants.

And you know what? After two months of jerking me around, they paid the claim within 24 hours.

Aram

*Who shall remain nameless, except to say that I didn't feel like they were very good neighbors

Posted by Aram at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Many people are unaware of an affliction common to rock guitarists called Gear Acquisition Syndrome. The trouble lies in the fact that half of being a guitarist today is to know the ins and outs of amplification, analog and digital processing, impedance matching and much more. Why do you think U2's Bono nicknamed his guitarist "The Scientist"? The Edge has a collection of digital effects that could illuminate the entire city of Tokyo with blinking LEDs. Many people credit Jimi Hendrix and his co-visionary Roger Mayer with pioneering the world of guitar signal experimentation. Today, distortion, delay, and modulation are to the aspiring rock guitarist what oil paint, graphite and charcoal are to the visual artist.

There's a new craze, however, that goes beyond simply going to the nearest music store on pay day and draining your entire food budget for the month. Thanks to lead guitar tone legends such as Trey Anastasio and the revival of textured rhythm guitar sounds a la Jack White and Franz Ferdinand, the guitar effects modification industry is booming. Guys like Analog Man and Robert Keeley will be happy to take your current gear and give your transistors an upgrade (or downgrade, depending on what you're going for) to give your axe sounds so rich that you can almost taste them. A little like buttered toast, yes. But man, the prospect of pimping my current gear adds another layer of infinite possibilities to the pursuit of Tone that makes GAS-sufferers like myself go insaner than insane in a good way.

Here's my current obsession.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As wikipedia notes, a New York minute is shorthand for a brief, jam-packed period. Such was my experience Saturday. With six free hours and trying to act like a real New Yorker, I hoofed it everywhere. I managed to visit the World Trade Center site, a gash of open space in the crowded cityscape. I nearly had a spectator role in a Bacardi commercial by walking into a filming scene (btw, the folks standing next to me were getting $150 for the day's work of spectating) and I witnessed one of the largest protest marches I'd ever seen as New Yorkers by the thousands filed down Broadway to protest/support many causes in one teaming mass of humanity. Since NYC is the world's shopping heartbeat, I also managed to hit three neighborhood hotspots, South Street Seaport; Wall's Street's Century 21 emporium, a department store jammed full of deeply discounted imported clothes from the hottest manufacturers;and SoHo, where the desperately beautiful stay at the desperately hip SoHo Grand Hotel and shop till they drop. All the biggest brands and newest, coolest stuff are purveyed in the trendy boutiques lining the SoHo neighborhood while street vendors hawk their wares ranging from art to clothes to suspect name brand items. One of my favorite retail shops was the Campers shoe store which sells the colorful, stylish walking shoes and sandals I first discovered in Spain. The day was topped off with the requisite slice of New York pizza whose thin crust oozed with cheese and sauce and glistened with oil and oregano. Sated, exhausted and foot sore, I slept enroute to JFK in the taxi. A New York minute is a slice of life like no where else. That's why I love New York.

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)