Stopped off for a beer on the way home at my favorite local joint. Saw a $12 beer, Zymatore, on the menu. They also have a nice pumpkin ale on tap right now so I ignored the expensive one.
But right before I was leaving someone ordered it. The bartender is a friend, so I asked him about it. He poured me a small glass to taste.
Oh my, yum.
Next time I will pay the $12.
Certainly not me. They are filming this somewhere by my office today. Film trucks are right outside my office. No sign of Robin Williams or Mila Kunis though…
On our last day in Cape Cod, high tide at Skaket Beach was very late. I’ve mentioned before that at low tide you can literally walk a mile straight out. So apparently some folks decided that it was the perfect day for a big sand castle project.
Around 10:30 AM, we see about ten people with serious shovels digging a big moat and making a big pile of sand. Interesting.
By noon it was just starting to take shape. Note how far out the tide is.
12:30, two clear peaks:
By 1:00 people were getting interested:
This guy clearly came prepared for sand art:
As the afternoon progresses (1:30 PM) random people start pitching in and helping:
Here it is at 3:20 PM. You can see the tide approaching. Time is running out:
It wasn’t just the castle, there was interesting sculpture all over the place:
The artist kept building until the end. Around 4 PM:
But the tide always wins these battles. By 5 PM, it looked like this:
Such a brief lifespan, but the entire beach got to enjoy it. It made for a fun last day of vacation.
Another good post from Seth Godin:
But the problem with the race to the bottom is that you might win.
I think Disney ending junk food commercials will have a much bigger impact than Bloomberg ending large soda sales in NYC.
For Mother’s Day (a day early) we went to see Traces off Broadway.
It was definitely a “wow” kind of show. There are two moments that go by in a flash in the video above. One of the best parts was an acrobatic dance with the one girl and the tallest guy. Freeze the video at the 2 second mark. She is standing on his hands with him lying down. He spins and somehow smoothly lifts her so he is holder her above him, still standing on his hands. He had absolutely no leverage to do that lift, but it looked effortless.
Part of the same dance, freeze the video above at the 25 second mark. At this point the guy has been balancing her above him and then basically throws her up. She comes down head first behind him, grabbing his body to prevent her from landing head first on the floor and then she slides between his legs, again looking effortless. But she came about four inches from bashing her head.
The whole thing was impressive and the kids loved it.
We moved into our current apartment about 5 years ago. Our next door neighbors are a lesbian couple with a 13 year old son. They are very nice and he’s about the nicest kid you’ll meet (serious babysitting potential).
I was saying to a friend the other day how interesting it is that my 9 year old daughter is growing up thinking that there’s nothing particularly unusual about this. When I was 9, I don’t think I knew what lesbian meant.
Given that they have a 13 year old son, they’ve clearly been together a long time. New York recently made same sex marriage legal, so the other day they mention that they are getting married. It was kind of funny, the invitation sounded more like a regular party (“hey we’re getting married next Sunday, you should come over”). But in context, a wedding on Mother’s Day made perfect sense.
The wedding was just across the hall at another neighbor’s (much larger) apartment. They really did it up nicely, and about 70 people were jam packed in there. Other than the fact that there were two women up there, the ceremony was like any other small non church wedding (interestingly, both women are Catholic, though obviously not getting married in a church).
About the only difference in the ceremony I noticed was that at the end when the minister said “I now pronounce you legally married” the cheers seems a bit louder than at straight ceremonies. I guess if you’ve been together for 15 years without being allowed to get married, finally doing it is that much sweeter.
During the wedding, Danielle said to me, “I thought they were already married”. At 9, I haven’t explained to her that in most places in the US they aren’t allowed to get married. We’ve known them for 5 years, and to us they are just two parents raising a kid. So I haven’t decided whether I should point out that it is historic, or make it seem like no big deal.
Right now, no big deal is winning.
Definitely worth a read. Some highlights:
Valve is flat. It’s our shorthand way of saying that we don’t have any management, and nobody “reports to” anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isn’t your manager. This company is yours to steer—toward opportunities and away from risks. You have the power to green-light projects. You have the power to ship products.
While people occasionally choose to push themselves to
work some extra hours at times when something big is
going out the door, for the most part working overtime for
extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning
or communication
And if you stop on the way back from your massage to play darts or work out in the Valve gym or whatever, it’s not a sign that this place is going to come crumbling down like some 1999-era dot-com startup. If we ever institute caviar-catered lunches, though, then maybe something’s wrong. Definitely panic if there’s caviar.
Everyone is a designer. Everyone can question each other’s work
From the glossary at the end:
Coffee Machine, Right-hand Dispenser—The dispenser in all coffee machines at Valve that holds the decaffeinated coffee beans. To the best of our knowledge, these have never needed to be refilled. For all we know, the beans are decorative plastic.
As a baseball fan, I’ve always wanted to visit Cooperstown. If I ever visit, I’ll make a point to also visit the Ommegang brewery. These guys are doing it right.
I’m a big fan of Witte and Hennepin, but I’m currently trying Art of Darkness.
I can’t say “yum” enough times…
Steve Fischer's Random Blog 