The reviews of the iPhone have been pretty positive so far (until they mention AT&T or the price). But the Times business columnist Joe Nocera can’t believe it that, like the iPod, you can not replace the battery. Assured obsolescence its called.
We have been working hard at planning the last details of our up coming trip to northern Spain. For those reservations we can’t make online we have been using SkypeOut to make the international phone calls. Its been working pretty good and a deal at two cents a minute! Sherry’s Spanish has been getting us along pretty good until this morning when the lady at the hotel in Haro responded with something she could not translate. We guessed it more or less meant they did not have any rooms. A little Internet searching turned up another option that took online reservations.
I’ve listened to the new Wilco album on the way home a few times last week. It a step back from YHF and reminds me more of their earlier stuff like Being There. But still a good listen. The live album the put out a few years ago is pretty sweet as well.
The “new” Elliot Smith album New Moon is on my play list as well. Its a mix of early tracks from when he was on Kill Rock Stars. I was hoping for something a little more “raw” (say Nirvana – With the Lights Out) but this is good.
On Friday night we finally got around to checking out the Uber Kegs on Aurora. I’ve been suggesting we stop by on our way out of PCC for a few months now. Strange location but very cool place. Its like a mini-Brouwser’s Cafe. Small place, large beer list.
Before hand we grabbed desert at Oliver’s Twist up on Phinney. Cute place, nice beer list. Fairly small, small plates menu.
When it comes to SIFF films we always have our best luck with the Scandinavians. We enjoyed Jonny Vang a few years ago at SIFF and when we saw the director had another film this year we put it on our list. Unfortunately, The Bothersome Man was no where near as good. Somewhere in between seeing the main character chop his own finger off or getting hit and dragged by a train four times there was a comedy in there. Something to do with Ikea I think.
Just got back from a weekend trip to the Methow Valley for some wedding planning. Over two days we saw lots of hotels, lodges, cabins, met with a caterer, and even got some mountain biking in. We have a good idea of what we want now and have narrowed it down to just a few locations. Now we just need to make it all happen.
Friday night we stayed at the North Cascades Base Camp. We had the place all to ourselves. We met the new owner and his family. He gave us the grand tour of the camp. Its mainly a ski lodge in the winter and is slow in the summer. So there lots of room to schedule our wedding in there.
Saturday we stayed down the road at the Mazama Ranch House. We were one of the few guests who did not bring their horses. There was some sort of natural horse training going on in the corral when we got there. When we left the next morning for our bike ride all the horse owners were gathering on the lawn with their yoga balls.
We went to see our first SIFF movie of the year last Friday. Big Rig was a documentary about long haul eighteen wheel deriving truckers. It was mostly filled with sad stories about the lives of truckers and how they found their ways to trucking. Being from the Midwest, hearing the truckers point of view was not all the new or surprising. But all the shots of American roadsides made the movie worth it.