katestine | Entries tagged with braintrust

Last night was my last night in my bed on the UWS and Friday is the move. I wish I'd taken a picture of the old place when I finally finished it (in December 2012) because it's going to be a while before I live anywhere nearly that comfortable again. The bathroom and kitchen at the new place aren't as new (not surprising since it's a rental) and there's less space, so I'll probably have to send some of my furniture to storage. I'm not sure we'll have space for any but the largest of our bookshelves :(:(:(

Anyhow, it has a walk-in closet, except that it's all shelves. The more I look at organizing sites/stores, the more I realize they are oriented toward converting hanger-space to shelf-space, whereas we have the opposite problem: we own lots of suits and other clothing that should be folded. We'll remove one set of shelves, hopefully without breaking anything that'll give the landlord an excuse to claw back our security deposit. Any suggestions on how to best use wire shelves? My old apartment had shelves that were perennially messy, with piles of sweaters flopped everywhere. I'm thinking maybe vinyl floor tiles to provide a stable surface and shelf dividers, or maybe this product.

If you had to express how hard a problem robust, scalable, easy-to-use scheduling is to someone who still chooses to use a Blackberry, how would you do it? An article talking about how many developer hours it took to build a scheduling system would be great. I might even have budget to hire someone if they are credible, like someone who's managed such a project, to come in and use small words to someone with the attention span of a golden retriever, with none of the lovable characteristics, for an hour or two.

[Poll #1962291]

I'm the only one in the office who uses a company-provided laptop: apparently in startup land, you bring your own supplies. My home laptop is 10lbs and hurts my back when I carry it to work. My mother told me to buy a better bag and I'd feel ridiculous buying a new computer that isn't as powerful as my 2.5yo laptop.

On the other hand, the social media gal I hired walked in with a laptop she'd bought at Best Buy across the street on her first day that she paid $300 for. It's an ASUS, like my current laptop. Her laptop has been fine since the first day, but my 2.5yo laptop has started requiring more attention. I'm leaning toward paying an extra $200 and getting a Lenovo Yoga 2, which has a Pentium instead of a Celeron, and has multiple modes for its touchscreen, meaning it's a tablet AND a laptop. (I frequently pull out my iPad at work to read; I bring it as a second screen, which I probably won't do if I'm commuting with a laptop.)

I assume I'll be buying a stylus to write on my laptop in meetings. As a visual thinker, I like the idea of searchable files where I can also draw little arrows and circle at speed. Is Evernote the one to buy for this?

My alarm clock died a few weeks ago and I decided yesterday I should replace it. Unfortunately, the totally excellent alarm clock I picked out on ThinkGeek, the one I'd desperately been waiting for my current alarm clock to die for, with Stephen Fry as Jeeves bidding you good morning, is no longer sold. Amazon doesn't have it either, but I found another place on the Internet that sells it... for $73. Which is a lot for, y'know, an alarm clock, especially since I could get an inexpensive iPhone dock (and maybe a cool wakeup app) for less.

Are there alarm clocks you like?

I thought about getting a clocky, but I don't have much trouble getting up in the morning and when I do, I often have someone in bed who might not appreciate the hijinks of me bouncing around the room looking for something in the dark. The Star Wars action figure mini-alarm clocks are mildly entertaining, except it's not Jon's fandom and more importantly, I don't want Boba Fett or Darth Vader waking me up in the morning. Grr.

Also, I need to stop looking at ThinkGeek before I buy all the things.

Edit: On the one hand, a natural light alarm clock might be great, bc I get up to the sun anyhow. On the other hand, it'll be a bit rough on whoever's in bed with me. Anyone have experience with one of these?

Current Mood: frustrated

Dear Lazywebs,

If I have a modern computer and a credit card, which version of Tropico should I buy? I like simple games: I occasionally consider digging out Sid Meier's Pirates. Basically, I'm trying to stop playing a stupid little tropical island sim on my iPhone: as soon as I started playing, I realized that it was specifically designed to interact with my brain chemistry so that I bought stuff in game. *sighs* It doesn't even let you rotate the little buildings!!

I bought Humble Indie Bundle V; I suppose once I'm over this island addiction, I could play Psychonauts or Bastion. We will not discuss the pile of unopened PS2 games.

While we're at it, would y'all like to recommend a new iPhone game? I'm bored of Vasebreaker/ZvP (I have 3M gold coins); I suck at Angry Birds; I liked Oven Break and Fruit Ninja a little, but I loved Tower Defense and Cartoon Wars.

-Kate, who is liable to OD on Fitocracy if you don't help

This is mostly a note to myself that there are no really interesting exhibits at the Museum of Sex; the Museum of the City of NY (although I should go on one of their architectural walks someday, considering I went to one in HK); the NY Historical Society; MoMA; or the AMNH. I want to see the Weegee exhibit at ICP and there's a bunch of interesting exhibits at the Met, including ones on Byzantium & Islam, Schiaparelli & Prada, English silver, Bellini & Titian, and nude photography. What museums did I forget?

Also, what would I get a song written about, if a musicals&soundtracks composer would write me a song? I may be unemployed, but I'm planning to contribute to this Kickstarter, largely bc it's one way to ensure I get tickets to see

madbard's musical at the NY Fringe Festival. He's one of the funniest men on LJ and he writes musicals! As he puts it, it's a chance "to be a bona fide patron of the arts, like the Medicis? But without the syphilis and inbreeding?" And who doesn't want to be a Medici?

Also, after reading 3 Cecilia Tan (nsfw)-written or -edited books in the past month, this is a reminder to myself that if she ever does a charity thing again where she offers to write a short story, I need to ask for one about mermaids, or robots, or werefoxes, or tentacle monsters. Ahem.

Edit: It just dawned on me that I have 3/4 of a superhero costume that I should NOT wear to Super Sidekick: The Musical. Oh dear.

I have a lot of things bothering me this morning and over the next 48 hours and I'm tired of living my life from crisis to crisis with no reserve and I have no idea when this is going to get better BUT. I do have a problem y'all can help me with.

Since early November, my nose has been running. At first I assumed it was just from being outside 3 mornings a week - that's when I started ice skating (outside). Then I noticed my eyes were itchy, so I figured maybe there was some plant growing near the rink that I'm allergic to. Supporting the not-a-cold theory, it responded to children's Claritin. Then it started up again at the end of my trip to Banff, to the point where I warned Pongo to take lots of vitamin C, bc I assumed I had a mild cold. My snot isn't clear, which is why I keep mistaking it for a mild infection.

I've started wondering if I've developed a milk allergy. I'm lactose intolerant, so I often buy the special milk, but I eat a fair amount of yogurt and I don't get fussed about the milk in my caramel macchiatoes. I drank a lot less milk than usual on the trip bc I didn't have as much access to caffeine on the slopes. I bought a quart of milk the day before I came to this hypothesis and I still have yogurt in the house, so it's going to be a little while before I can test this theory. Pongo is dubious about the milk allergy theory, bc he says itchy, watery eyes and sinusitis are weird symptoms: the list I found on the Intarwebs suggested irritability, tiredness, and bloating as other symptoms. HA! Like I'd ever be able to perform THAT differential.

Anyhoo, I've been so physically uncomfortable this week, it's affecting my cope levels. I ordered more children's Claritin, but it won't arrive until tmw. Do you have any ideas???

Current Mood: uncomfortable

Today's original poll got eaten by LJ, so instead you're getting a scatter-brained, textual version of next week's (which is probably better this way so I can implement).

What should I read on my Christmas vacation? I'm spending 20hrs on planes and while I'll be traveling with one of my top five favorite people, he's an introvert and it's =20= hours.

I'm almost definitely bringing a short but dense book about counterinsurgency and I'll probably have some light fiction on my iPod as well in case I need fluff. I was flipping through my library books last night and realized the only non-fiction I currently have out is a cookbook, the Commie COIN book I half-finished, and a counter factual anthology.

I could try reading Manias, Panics, and Crashes again, but dang that was painful. I suppose This Time Is Different is in the same category. I could read one of the biographies of Keynes; a book about the rise of strategy consulting; Kissinger's Diplomacy; The Coming Breakpoint; or Schelling's The Strategy of Conflict, except the last isn't available at either of my libraries or for the Kindle wtf.

Or is there some other non-fiction book you think I'd really like and should read soonest?

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

I have a post bubbling in my head about learned helplessness, the dark side of comparative advantage, and the risks of dating superawesome partners. In the meantime, I confess, my Google-fu completely fails me and.... Is anyone else playing Sims Medieval for the iPhone? I can't figure out the fishing mechanic and I can't even figure out how to find a tutorial online. *hangs head in shame*

Oh well, if I'm very very good and crank out the current pile of job applications, maybe next week, I can buy Sims Medieval for the PC.[/wistful]

I'm writing this on a Dell Dimension 8300. I can't find the original receipt, but I bet it's 7 years old. I know I keep saying I'll buy a new computer, but this time I mean it, I really do.

I've noticed that I prefer to sit on my couch and play on my iPod rather than turn on my big computer. I can't tell if it's bc the computer is so slow or if I like the instant on of my iPod. It's also possible I'm just irresistibly attracted to my couch.

An iPad would be couch-able AND instant on - but wouldn't allow me to tidy photos for all the photobooks I need to make any day now. I don't do very much else on the computer, although when I get a new one, I want to play Sims Medieval and Mosby's Confederacy and Diablo 3.

I checked Ars Technica's most recent Hot Rod guide. They claim a desktop of those specs would cost ~$1600. One of the inspirations for the laptop!now! thing is a comment on Penny Arcade about the M17x. I assume that something that is good for gaming will also be optimized for photo editing, right? I priced out a similar Alienware laptop and MacBook Pro and they are ~$2100 and ~$2400 respectively. BBro mocked me when I said I was looking at $2400 laptop, saying that his laptop cost a few hundred dollars and if I'm currently using a 7yo computer, I will be just fine with something much cheaper. On the other hand, the reason I'm still using a 7yo desktop is that I bought a Hot Rod back then, so.

It seems to me that an unconscionably large part of the price is the solid state drive, but they sound superawesome, ESPECIALLY for laptops. I'm not crazy about needing an external drive, but? and? I really ought to have a system for my photo backups.

I'm sort of excited about the laptop bc then I don't have to finish tidying my desktop first. I'm sort of not excited about the laptop bc I specifically bought this massive desk to house a desktop after years of arguing with my mum about it. I also have no plans to ever take the laptop out of my apt: anywhere else, I can use my iPod Touch. Computers are for creation.

Is there anyone who likes Aperture better than Lightroom??

I almost went to the Apple store on Monday at lunch time to buy the 15", but I was tired and didn't think I'd have the energy to play with it that night. I had so little energy, I didn't even want to buy the anchor building book I'm sure will lock safety stuff into my brain. I'm also feeling a little glutted on electronic toys, between last week's cam & sling buying frenzy and my new zoom lens arriving. On the other hand, if I buy a new computer before I leave for the Galapagos, I'm that much more likely to sort the photos in a timely fashion. What sayest thou?

American Express is doing a promotion that ends tmw where if you use it on iTunes, you get 5 free iTunes songs, and by you I mean me. What should I buy? I figure if they're free, I might as well use them to expand my musical horizons beyond the dance remixes of Top 40 and showtunes that constitute my usual iTunes purchase. I like house, alternative, opera, and power metal.

Edit: I ended up buying
"This ain't a scene it's a arms race"
"Thanks fr th mmrs"
No One Gets Left Behind and War is the Answer (Five Finger Death Punch)
Two Angry Kids (Street Dogs), and
"The Sound of Music" (Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestra)
. Thanks!!

Is there a science kit or some other learning promoting present you would like to recommend? I visited their parents and failed to bring a gift with me, so yeah. The targets are three academically precocious, home schooled girls, ages 6-10. The eldest is building a computer with her daddy, the middle one loves stars, but I cannot remember what the youngest daughter, my favorite, likes. Bad Kate.

I thought about sending them each a $25 gift certificate to Amazon, but that's so soulless.

Thanks!!
-Kate

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Do I know anyone who can lend me Lest Darkness Fall, or should I just get one of L. Sprague de Camp's non-fiction books? Even those are not available at the NY Public Library :( No wonder it's not considered a "star library" by Library Journal.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Edit: At least Family Trade is available...

Top 5 things I like about my Incredible

my shiny red case, which is ironic considering I wasn't going to get it but LBro talked (practically forced) me into it
the font in the web browser
Twitter is completely different when you have access all day long, as is access to LJ responses

My biggest complaint about the Incredible is that the interface is just similar enough to my iPod to make my head hurt. To turn on the Incredible, I press the button at the top; to turn on my iPod, I press the button on the front. Everything on the iPod seems to work off the front button. When typing, the key to switch to the numbers & symbols keyboard is on opposite sides for the two devices, etc. and ARGH.

I've had it for 3 weeks now, which means if I'm going to change it, I need to do it this week. I briefly thought about getting a MiFi and exchanging my smartphone for a dumbphone, bc then I could just use the dumbphone for talking to people (ick) and texting, and then use the MiFi for Internet-everywhere, even canceling my DSL. Except then I'd be carrying 3 devices (dumbphone, iPod Touch, MiFi) and I'm not sure I have enough brain capacity to remember 3 devices, my keys, my metro card, my wallet, AND my work ID every day, y'know?

My at-home DSL, according to speedtest.net, is 2.8Mbps/0.66Mbps, in case that matters.

I don't think there's much point in getting a different Verizon smartphone, since the dude at CostCo commented all Droids have the same interface.

My mother says to suck it up and it's good for my brain to have to deal with 2 interfaces. My mother also doesn't spend all day thinking.

Tell me LJ-genie, what should I do?

What's your favorite credit card? ( Why I'm cutting back on Amazon and the shininess of Starwood (read: W) ) I would regard it as an absolute treat to stay at W hotels more often.

Over the past few years, I've most frequently stayed at Hyatt hotels when traveling for pleasure. The good news is, they just came out with their own credit card this fall. The bad news is, their program is stingy. I checked the three Hyatts I stayed at most recently and of the three, only one made sense to use points rather than the cash rate negotiated by the organizers of the event. Boo. Granted, (a) the card has no annual fee the first year, (b) new members get 2 free nights, and (c) with what I spend in a year, I'd get three free nights at Shi'con, which I suppose would be nice.

The other reason I'm debating this now is between vacation, Christmas, and charitable giving, about a third of my credit card spending comes in the last three months of the year. Bottom-line, it's a debate between a very pretty shiny vs. a somewhat useful and still fun but not as shiny. My favorite almost-economist commented she was keeping her Starwood card bc that's for fun! whereas she mentally budgets for events (and she also goes to fewer of them). I bet I end up getting the Hyatt card for a year, racking up the points, and then debating this again at the end of 2011.

###

My CDs are coming due this month and I'm irrationally annoyed that rates are lower this year. ( asset allocation and rates discussion ) While not-shredding old brokerage statements last weekend, I discovered I used to trade a lot more - and kinda missed it. I'm also bemused how little I paid for my trades and how much easier it was to place orders back in the wild days of the Internet.

Current Music: DB Sound - "Just the Girl (power remix)"

Other than Bolt Bus, are there any particular bus companies plying the Boston-NY route that we like/dislike? Is there any reason to buy a ticket in advance for the others?

Sent my application for this summer's climbing class. I'm amused that they specifically ask, "Have you ever had frostbite or any other form of cold weather injury?" and "Specifically, have you ever dislocated a shoulder?" but leave a small text box for your mountaineering resume. I haven't done all that much, but I still had three paragraphs to write! Now comes the hard part - addressing the envelope and putting a stamp on it and putting it in a mailbox.

I budgeted almost as much for new gear as for instruction. I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have an altimeter they'd (dis)recommend? I read reviews in Outside magazine, various message boards, and the guide service itself. I'm leaning towards the Suunto Vector, as a good compromise of price and performance: I'm not particularly convinced the step up is better, although maybe I'll call the manufacturer.

Part of the reason I'm working on it this week is that I really really need a new heart rate monitor - the old one ran out of battery after 2 years and getting the battery replaced costs nearly as much as a new one. Unfortunately, considering how much abuse it gets, going up stairs and hiking and climbing and swimming etc., I'm coming to the conclusion I should have a separate one from my altimeter, even though I find the hrm is very useful for pacing in the mountains. The Suunto Vector doesn't have that option.

Needing a separate heart rate monitor, I considered the HighGear 'biner altimeter, but it sounds like it's not quite as good as the Vector. (The icthyrabdic one used a watch version on Kili and Rainier but it didn't seem too accurate.) The gear guy at Outside also seems to like watches by St. Moritz and Avocet, but I can't find as much info about them.

Even with just the heart rate monitor, I can't decide if I want to get the same basic one, which provides just average hr, rather than the ones that hook into a computer to show a chart of your heart rates. That would be interesting to see, but argh, more data.

I wish there were nearby stores where I could buy this sort of thing. I also recognize I've probably already spent too much time thinking about this, considering every one of the last five pairs of shoes I bought cost more than the most expensive altimeters I've been considering.

I don't get it: is In-Trade no longer the place to go for prediction markets? They don't have any markets for the (soccer) World Cup! I'm going to a charity thing at work tonight where we've been asked to buy raffle tickets. Evil English and another regular source of gossip are both highly involved and sent personal appeals. They've priced the tickets to encourage people to buy $50 worth, but considering I can't even remember what "deserving" cause it supports, yeah. *grumbles*

Anyhoo, the way it works is you buy tickets and pick a country. If your country is in the various stages of winning, your name will be in the hat, so it helps tremendously to pick the right country. Hence my question.

Also curious if there are any Twitter trending topics analytical tools that'd do the same thing.

What are your fave Chicago restaurants for a romantic birthday dinner? Bonus pts if it's near the airport. I shoulda booked Frontera Grill a month ago :-(

Edit: the extremely nice receptionist at Frontera suggested Naha, Publican, Purple Pig, Blackbird, Avec, and Tru, but most of those aren't in OpenTable and erg it's so annoying to have such a limited window in which to feed them a romantic meal I can't eat bc I want to play that night...

Edit2: It's not that I'm opposed to non-OpenTable restaurants, it's just hard to compare 6 restaurants I don't know without some sort of guide. durr. By contrast, you'd think finding a restaurant for the prior weekend, when I'll be in a city I know eating without any hope of subsequent vigorous horizontal exercise, ought to be easy, right?

What're the odds the new-in-September iPod Touch will have an iPad-like data plan? My 3rd gen nano is on its last legs :-(

Else what's a heaven for?

Closet organizing bleg

Technology Bleg

My new lunchbox

This is what happens when you have lists of things you want

Methadone for Tropical Dictator Addicts

A helluva town

I don't hab a code

Humpday poll - Vacation readin'

This is why I should only play games my friends have played

If I go Mac, will I want to go back?

What should I listen to?

Dear Lazywebs,

Both My Libraries Failed Me

Neuticles for Farinelli

Spending and Saving

I fail at all sorts of ticket buying

[Adventure Tuesday] Why I'm buying a separate altimeter and heart rate monitor

Dear Lazyweb, World Cup edition

Posted using TxtLJ

Posted using TxtLJ

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