DanRochman.com

I just upgraded to the *very* latest (nightly) WordPress build, so:
- I’m out on the bleeding edge, and the site might just crash (but at least it’s backed up)
- the style reverted to the new default WordPress style theme, which I like well enough, so I’m leaving it as-is (for now)

Arnon commented that from where he sits, ALL of the images in my blog are of Blossom (the leader of The Powerpuff Girls) saying “Stop leeching or I’ll kick your arse!” This is my cutesy (and blatantly copyright-infringing) way of discouraging the somewhat nefarious practice of hotlinking. In geek terms, this can happen if your client (browser, blog reader, whatever) pulls images off of my web server in an odd way, or if your client (or a proxy in front of your client) munges up the HTTP_REFERER header somehow. In non-geek terms, if you have this problem, then EVERY image in this blog will be replaced with the following image:

If Arnon’s the only one having this problem, then… Well, he was born to suffer, I guess. And he’s been the only one to mention it so far. So if you’ve ever noticed this problem, but haven’t mentioned it before, please comment on this entry and let me know. I don’t like hotlinking, but I certainly don’t want the countermeasures to mess up the site for innocent (or, in Arnon’s case, not-so-innocent) bystanders.

In other news, I’m bashing on Arnon today mainly because: (a) it’s fun; (b) Arnon and Rowan are coming to visit us in early March; (c) it’s hella fun; and (d) there’s nothing he can do about it. Um, at least not until he gets here. Oops.

I called on a client today in downtown San Francisco. I had to register with security in the lobby of their building before I could get upstairs. I signed in, a guard handed me a visitor’s badge, and I headed for the elevators. The guard turned back to his newspaper, and then turned to his partner and asked “Norwegian Saint - four letters”. Almost as a reflex, and without breaking stride, I glanced back and said “St. Olaf“. The guard smiled and nodded, and then I got on the elevator. I have no idea why I remembered that, but I did. It’s funny how something like that will pop into my head instantly, quite unbidden, while I have a really hard time remembering things like how old I am, or the names or faces of people I’ve actually met. Brains are a funny sort of pudding.

No massive blog entry tonight - too much work to do. But one thing I never got around to posting is that Emylene slaapt me upside the head, and told me that it’s spelled “slaapt“, not “schlapt“. So while I know about a Norwegian king or two, my spelling (at least of Dutch) is tearrible. The only good to come of my ignorance is that this site is (at least for now) the top-ranked Google web search result for “schlapt” (although Google does ask you if you didn’t really mean to search on “schlept”). Why do I find that so cool?

In keeping with my unwarranted (and presumably boring) fascination with all things ROSHAMBO, we were shopping for some goodies a week or so ago when Em pointed out a bottle of wine from the Roshambo Winery. It turns out they even hosted an RPS Pro-Am Tournament, but alas, I missed it. Photos are up on the site, though. And they’re in Healdsburg, which is only about a 90-minute drive from here, so I may just have to go check them out in person. Rock crushes Scissors - and Grapes!

Okay, my time-since-last-blog meter (no, there is NOT really one - at least not yet) is blinking red and making air-raid siren noises. I’ve beaten back my tendency to only post massive entries, if only just this once. I WILL try to post a massive entry later today. [Master Yoda says that "there is no try" - but he's just a muppet, so what does he know?]

In the meantime, and JUST IN CASE that massive entry never happens:
- the Florida trip was nice-but-cold (by Florida standards)
- a massive tsunami… well, you know all about that
- we arrived back in San Francisco just in time for New Year’s Eve
- we had tickets (bought from Florida) for a New Year’s Eve comedy bash, but we skipped it and were asleep by 10:30 PM
- our friend Carlos was here for MacWorld, and then hung out with us for a few days after that (we had MUCH fun - probably made up for sleeping through New Year’s Eve…)
- we’re fine, and we miss everybody, unless we just saw you last week or something, in which case we still miss you, but you have to go the back of the “we miss you” line behind the folks we haven’t seen in AGES

Speaking of which, shouts to Arnon and Rowan, who are coming to visit (whee!) and to Stephan Herman and Al Yates (known affectionately as “The Little Bitch” and “Peaches”, respectively, for reasons I can’t quite go into here), who took the time to get back in touch with me via blog comments. Ah, the old Montreal Posse. Not to be confused with the Old Montreal Posse, of which je ne sais rien.

By the way, Carlos would probably (?) want me to tell you that he’s VERY handsome, and that my 17-pixel cameraphone picture of him really doesn’t do him any justice. In any case, that happens to be the truth. But even though he asked me to nicely, I won’t take the picture down.

Carlos!