Eco Festival

Today is the Eco Festival which, for Kate and I at Local Dish, is the final culmination of the work we have been putting into Local Food Week. It has been a lot of effort with software development, marketing, news announcements, sponsorship, gathering of recipe ingredients, contestant judging, etc. All worth it, of course, now that we can announce the winners of the recipe contest.

So if you are in the city today and have time to swing by Rock Ledge Ranch (at the base of Garden of the Gods), please do. Kate and I will be on stage between 12pm-1pm announcing the recipe contest winners as well as cooking and providing free samples of the two top recipes (because the results were very close). Just look for us, wearing these shirts:

See you at the Eco Festival today!

Tags: Local Dish

Ein

In an effort to surprise my wife for her upcoming birthday, I drove out to Wetmore, CO to pick up a 8-week old Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy from a local breeder. My intent was to present the puppy on the day of her birthday (by leaving him with friends first). However, during the drive home, I realized that was going to be complicated and possibly traumatic for the little guy. So I gave him to my wife early. She nearly bowled me over in happiness when I surprised her. He’s a cutie, that’s for sure:

We named him, “Ein”, after the data dog of the same name from the Cowboy Bebob series (one of my favorite anime). Hey, it all relates to tech in one form or another. He’s learning fast and already can tackle the stairs with those short legs. The bathroom training…well…that’s going to take some time still.

Tags: Ein

Memorial Weekend BBQ

© Brian Chu

We are hosting a BBQ this upcoming Memorial Day Weekend and you are invited.

Drop by for some much needed fun, sun and barbecued food any time between 2 p.m. until whenever on May 23rd. We’ll provide delicious skewered meats and a few sides. A growler or two from Trinity might be on hand as well, although feel free to BYOB. Music, company, card/video/board games upon request. Please RSVP by May 15 by emailing me directly or commenting to this post.

See you there!

Wedding Reception Registration

For those of you who have been following along, I have talked about our Elopement and plans for a Wedding Party…well, I finally completed work on a little Ruby on Rails site hosted by Heroku. The site is live and running now. So check out the site, learn more about what is happening, and R.S.V.P. today!

It’s going to be a fun time so don’t let this pass you by.

Paypal Fraud

Ever get an e-mail like this?:

(click to view)

The first clue that this e-mail is fake is that the sending address has “Inc” in the “support@PayPal.Inc.com” e-mail address. Secondly, if you choose to click on the “dispute transaction” link from the e-mail, you’ll see an address like this in your browser:

http://81.21.68.248/www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr=cmd=p/index.php

Which yields the following web site:

There are many things wrong with the site such as funky characters showing up, etc. Lets hope that most people will not fall prey to this Trojan horse attack. Here is the official Paypal link to report phishing attacks like this one.

Wedding Party

For those of you joining us for our wedding party, we have started mailing out our “Save the Date” cards and I suspect that most of you will be getting these in the mail by the end of the week. Hopefully, everyone can make it as we would love to see everyone come out. The party is going to hosted at our house with catered food and an assortment of things to drink. I am currently working on a Ruby on Rails site that will allow you all to R.S.V.P. to the party (more details on that in a future post). Of course, you can comment to this post here if you like as well.

Additional party details about our elopement and wedding plans can be found on the Elopement page.

Mark your calendar and stay tuned for further updates!

Elopement

Yep, Kate and I have decided to elope. We are still reserving September 6th of this year for the grand ring exchange but it will just be the two of us and…well…the motorcycle, of course!

Despite this change of events, we are still having a party. It will be held at our place, in the Springs, which should make it easier on all of you. I admit that I had grand schemes of holding the event in a remote location in the mountains but I know that not everyone shares my love of the road so we believe this is best for everyone involved. Here are the details:

• Date: September 27th, 2008
• Time: All day but food will most likely be served in the afternoon.
• Location: Our Place (if you don’t know where it is by now then e-mail me and I’ll set you straight)

Kate has written up additional details on the Elopement page. If you have questions, leave comments here or just contact me directly. Otherwise, see you on September 27th!

Favorite Podcasts

While attending EclipseCon 2008 this week a discussion came up about the various video and audio podcasts that people subscribe to. Here are the syndicated feeds of my favorite podcasts in case anyone wants to add more to their repertoire:

• Freelance Radio - News and information related to freelancing. I have written about Freelance Radio before.
• Grape Radio - For those who love wine.
• Play Digital - Short and entertaining video podcast for gamers.
• 1UP - A video podcast that usually reviews three games in 30 minutes.
• TWIP - A podcast and video feed dedicated to learning more about photography. I have written about TWIP before.
• Blogging Pro - News and information related to WordPress.
• The Java Posse - A panel that discusses Java news each week (sometimes more). If you are a Java developer, this is one feed you don’t want to miss out on.
• Software Engineering Radio - Excellent podcast discussing design patterns, programming languages, etc. There have also been some very interesting interviews with Dave Thomas (founder of OTI), Erich Gamma, and other former OTIers.
• Podcasting Underground - Tips, tricks, equipment suggestions, etc. for podcasting.
• Hansel Minutes - Another technology podcast. Howerver, as of late, it has been talking more about Microsoft technology.
• Railscast - Video podcasts demonstrating Ruby on Rails code.
• Rails Envy - Another Ruby on Rails podcast.
• Linux Reality - Discusses tips and tricks related to Linux as well as learning about and setting up new software on the Linux platform.
• The Mac Attack - MacOS news and info.
• TWiT - Reviews technology news for the week with a random panel of people hosted by Leo Laporte.
• MacBreak Weekly - Reviews Apple news with a radom panel of people hosted by Leo Laporte.
• GigaVox Media - Random technological news and information hosted by some very bright minds. This is one feed you don’t want to miss out on.
• DL.TV - Technology news and review. Usually involving gadgets and gear.
• Unwired - Another tech review, usually around gadgets and gear.
• NPR (Fresh Air) - Random intimate interviews with actors, artists, singers, writers, etc.
• NPR (It’s All Politics) - Two guys discussing and analyzing the current state of American politics.
• NPR (Intelligence Squared) - Philosophical debates, sometimes on long tail issues.
• Political Lunch - A short (usually 5 mins) video review of daily American political news.
• Discus - An entertaining review of obscure movies (usually).
• Astronomy Cast - Teaches about the science related to astronomy and all things that make up our universe.

Tags: Podcasts

Think Green

What are you doing to stay green? Here are a few things to check out when you have time:

• An Inconvenient Truth - Hopefully, by now, you have watched the DVD and seen what Al Gore has been up to (ultimately winning him a Nobel Peace Prize). Otherwise, add it to your rental queue, its worth seeing.
• The Story of Stuff - A 20 minute video that will cause you to think about (or remind you of) the side effects of producing consumer goods.
• Buy CFLs:
  WPvideo 1.10

Innovation Nation Podcast

(click to buy)

Dr. Moira Gunn recently interviewed John Kao about his book “Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back”. Good discussion topics brought up during the course of the interview:

• American Youth - They seem to have lost the meaning of “hard work” and feel they are entitled to everything.
• Melting Pot - America is no longer being perceived as a the melting pot of ideas, cultures, foreign influence etc.
• Talent Stickiness - Top talent is no longer staying but moving elsewhere.
• Legal Madness - The country is overrun by lawyers.

I recommend listing to the podcast (32:36 minutes) as found on the IT Conversations network. The book is probably worth checking out as well.