observing the process will change it

This is the beautiful Hippeastrum given to us by our friends Monica and Seth.  It's a pretty amazing house plant because it requires almost no attention and then before you know it there are spectacular flowers shooting out of it. 

I haven't posted a flower picture in a while, I'm actually sort of proud I held out for so long.  This one came out very pretty however, and I can't resist.

A reminder:  Buy all your Xian related paraphenalia at my Cafe Press store.  Do it.  My clock came in the mail yesterday and it's AWESOME.

This one is kinda out of season, but whatever.

I realize this may fall on deaf ears, but I think there might be one or two people in my limited audience interested in the following link:

Spore

It basically looks like the coolest video game that has ever been or will ever be, short of anything involving virtual reality headsets and naked girls.  Or jungle cats.  Virtual reality jungle cats would be neat too.  In a different way.

Anyway, the video is apparently from a video game design conference last May.  After a perfunctory Google search I determined that there hasn't been anything new mentioned about the game since that time, so I don't really know anything about the game except that this video blew my mind. 

It is thirty-five minutes long, so, uh, plan accordingly?  If this is your sort of thing though, it is well worth the time.

I'm long overdue for a post, but this time I have a little substance.  Over to the left you can see some new buttons referring to Last.fm, a free music service that tracks the music you listen to, shows you other users who share similar tastes, and even creates personalized radio stations which play music you should like, based on what you already listen to.

I've been using this service for the past few months, and while it has some quirks, I'm happy to report that the radio station thingy is amazing.  I've been listening to the station specifically generated for me over the past few nights, and it is uncanny how dead-on this thing is.  The first five songs it played for me were songs I had never heard before, and absolutely loved.  Some were from bands I have listened to before but had simply not heard that song, and others were bands I had heard of, but never listened to.  Mixed in are songs by bands I know and love across the decades.  You can even just type in a band's name, and a station will be generated which plays stuff by similar bands.

I do have one minor complaint about the service:  Most of my music listening happens on my iPod.  If you listen to songs on your computer before you update your iPod again, none of those songs listened to on the iPod will be tracked on the website.  It's not a major thing, but I only just figured it out, and thus my profile isn't as accurate a portrayal of my listening trends as it could be.

If you listen to a decent amount of music on your computer or iPod, I definitely recommend checking this service out.  It's pretty neat to see how your listening trends change over time.  You're also bound to be turned on to music that's new to you, and that's always cool.

Happy Last Few Minutes of Valentine's Day

We are in the midst of the ~week and a half where the ornamental plums are in bloom.  The hills are green.  The sky is a deep blue.  Everything is pretty and sparkly.  I am convinced February is the nicest time of year in Northern California.

This, like the last post, is from the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

Posting kinda fell off again recently.  I found out I needed another class, this time it's organic chemistry, so I kinda stopped doing anything extracurricular for a couple weeks.  Well, not everything extracurricular.  oooOOOO.

I haven't posted in a while because I'm getting a new camera and have kinda lost interest in what my current camera can do.  Nevertheless, this is a pretty picture taken at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.  It's only five bucks and has the most exotic and beautiful flowers you'll find anywhere outside a rain forest.  I could pretty much live there and be perfectly content.

On a completely different subject, more Elliott Smith tracks seem to leak every few weeks.  This is another one apparently recorded during the From a Basement on the Hill era.  I like it a whole bunch.

Elliott Smith - Basement demos - Stickman.mp3

I've bought quite a few plants for my room and the house recently.  This one is Crassula perforata, sometimes called "Jade Necklace".  Nice thing about succulents is that they need very little water and can tolerate any amount of sun they might get sitting on your windowsill.  The more sun this one gets, the darker the pink will get around its edges.

This was purchased at Cactus Jungle in Berkeley, CA.  You won't find nicer or more knowledgeable guys anywhere, and their plants are beautiful.  They are only open Saturday and Sunday, but it's worth a look if you find yourself in the area.