We’re back once again in the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, enjoying a few days of fun in the sun with Caren’s sister and family. It’s always a fun trip. We get a nice big house up at the northern end of the area, just north of Corolla Light House. It’s a bit crazy with 5 couples and about 8 or 10 toddlers running around -- generally screaming or sleeping, and the kids are even worse.

Anyway, one of my favorite activities here is to hop on my bike and go for a nice longish ride. My daily ride at home is quite hilly (about 27 km, with 500 metres of aggregated ascent). Here, things are pretty flat. So, I put a pair of “skinnies” on my bike -- slim tires for the flat road conditions here. Also by comparison, I generally average about 17-18 km/h on my daily ride, but here I’m finding 25 km/h is quite feasible to maintain, even on my “fully” -- full suspension mountain bike.

So, today I headed out for a ride after we took the hounds on the beach for a romp and made a breakfast that couldn’t be beat. At just 44 km, I didn’t go insane, but I did enjoy the ride very much. Then the fun began...

On my ride north, I’d just come out of one of the subdivisions around Pine Island when I encountered a “roadie” -- a road bike. The rider was sporting full roadie gear, including elbow rests and aerodynamic head gear. I wasn’t trying to show him up or anything, but I pretty quickly caught up with him. I drafted him for a km or so, but then he slowed down to rest his legs a bit and I all but catapulted past him. It’s a pretty safe but general rule that roadies do NOT like being passed by mountain bikes, and being passed by a “fully” is about as full an affront as one could find.

Sure enough, within a couple km, he wanted to show me that he wasn’t going to be beaten by a fully. Zoom, he passed. He certainly had every advantage, and I was just there for a fun ride, so no problem. But then, by Tim Buck II, I had caught up to him again. He seemed a bit surprised, but no big deal. Then, he swerved a bit to avoid a car coming out of a coffee shop and zoom, I launched past him again. He was NOT pleased.

To avoid a nuclear showdown, I pulled into the next beach community and rode for about 5 km parallel to the highway. Figuring I’d averted a full fledged war, I left the subdivision and got back on the highway. There he was again... This was too good to let go.

I quickly caught up with him by Corolla Light, when he slowed down to turn into his own (presumably) subdivision. I had to brake a bit to avoid him, and he quickly looked back at me when he heard the noise. The look on his face was completely priceless. He was a beaten man. But, I am after all a gent-ul-mun, so I refrained from passing him outright. I was out for a leisurely vacation ride, after all.

It was about as much fun as I could have on two wheels -- at least with my pants on. Another GREAT day in the OBX!

Anyway, here’s a Google Earth image of my 44 km ride below for your amusement -- click on the image to download the Google Earth KML file and view it in your own Google Earth browser. (I use a Garmin Edge 205 GPS on my bike to track my rides. Together with a wonderful software package called Ascent, I can quickly export Google Earth XML files to visualize my rides. It’s lots of fun.)

Cheers,

Ken

Perhaps it wasn't THE best shower ever, but it certainly seemed like it was.

I have a bunch of hours to spend here in Tokyo's "NRT" airport.  I've been here in the United lounge many times -- I LOVE the beer machines! -- but never with this much time on my hands.  So I explored a bit.  I've seen the shower suites in the past, but you have to sign up for them, and I always figured they'd be snooty with my upgraded busines class seat and not a full-fare "C" seat.

But my upgrade came through with time to spare; I got a business class boarding pass; I figured I'd give it a go. Worst they can do is say no and make me feel like a second class miserable, pathetic excuse for a human being.

I’m happy to report there was not a hint of snooty.  Just a "would you care for a shower today, sir?" and "here is a complimentary amenity kit".  Went to my shower suite, put the sign up, and locked the door.  The suites aren't spacious, but they're not small either.  Kind of the size of a normal American bathroom.  A sink, a commode, and a BIG shower stall.  The shower stall is walk-in.  Heck, you could drive a small car into it.

And it's not cheap and nasty either.  All the fixtures are top notch Gröhe equipment.  I set my shower temperature and turned the pressure knob to 11 and...  and...  it was rapture.

After the 7 hour night flight from Kuala Lumpur -- at the end of a particularly long business day, I should add -- and knowing I have another 15 hours of flight time ahead of me, this was EXACTLY what I needed.

The amenity kit included shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, razor, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, and some eau de toilette (always sounds better than "toilet water").  Nothing fancy, but nothing cheap either.

Just two minor complaints.  The bath towel was neither large nor absorbent.  Perhaps adequate for drying a hairless chihuahua after he’s run around a bit, but NOT so for drying an American male. Fortunately, the paper towels were more than absorbent to augment.

Second, the disposable razor.  Note to self: Dispose it first and THEN shave (with the razor in your dop kit) and there will be substantially less bloodshed.

Other than that, it was utterly delightful.  I plan on stopping through NRT more often on these southeast Asia trips in the future, that's for sure!

Cheers,

Ken

If Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were to somehow have a (US) football team go to the super duper big game in January, what would I serve?

Huh? “Has he gone insane?!,” you must be asking. A fair question, but let me explain.

I’m sitting here in Kuala Lumpur on a business trip. With a 12-hour time zone shift, my body’s circadian clock has been understandably askew, but I’m dealing with it. (It’s not my first time...) So, I was clicking through the TV stations in my hotel room. What caught my eye was a chef in a kitchen preparing a positively drool-worthy meal. I watched...

It turned out to be a story about some chefs in Jerusalem who periodically got together with their peers and prepared meals for them. The catch: the chefs were Palestinian as well as Jewish. They prepared meals and then described each dish’s history for their peers. The crux of the story was that they were fostering peace through culinary and historical understanding of each other’s foods. The message was 100% one of peaceful coexistence. I was captivated and completely ate up the story, if not the dishes.

What TV station do you suppose carried this story? Al Jazeera. That’s right, Al Jazeera. The English version of Al Jazeera is broadcast around the world from right here in Kuala Lumpur. I was shocked. This can’t be the station that my countrymen have warned me about. They were carrying a message not of extremism and violence, but of peace and coexistence. (I wish I could say the same for my own country’s news outlets.) Wow.

So, that got me thinking back to here, Kuala Lumpur. Each year for the big football game, we throw a party where we serve food from each team’s city. I always try to select meals that speak to the city. Things they’re known for. Pittsburgh-style sandwiches with french fries AND cole slaw right on the sandwich, just like they serve in da ‘Burgh, for example.

What would I serve for KL? (Of course, the fact that they don’t have a team is not even relevant.)

Last night, my host took me to dinner and asked me what I wanted to eat. I said that I’d like to try something that is uniquely Malaysian and -- even better -- uniquely Kuala Lumpur(ian). A challenge...

We went to a Malaysian restaurant and had a couple local dishes. Main course was a coconut rice dish that was fabulous. The rice is cooked with coconut milk and has a fabulous savory flavor to it. Alongside they had a curry sauce smothered chicken and beef dish. Also fabulous. The spices are fresh and vibrant, which I’d expect in this part of the world. I also had a bean dish that they said few westerners would eat. The beans were crisp and fresh, and about the size of fava beans. They were in a red sauce that was intensely flavorful and clearly spiced to kill small children and tourists. Wow.

The food was fantastic. I tried to find out a bit of the “history” of each dish, but was not successful, other than that each dish is traditional and uniquely Malaysian...or perhaps Indonesian, depending on whom you ask. Great. ;-\

But it’s a great question to ask. I heartily suggest you try it whenever you travel. Find the dish(es) that the region/city is known for. Ask the locals what dish a visitor MUST try before leaving. And be prepared for an adventure.

Understanding, knowledge, peace, coexistence, spice, flavor, mmmmmm....

Cheers,

Ken

I have managed to not succumb to iPhone fever for a year. I still have, but I did recently get an iPod Touch with a new Mac (as part of Apple’s “Back to School”) special program. It’s NOT an iPhone, but the user interface is nearly identical.

After using it for just a few days, I can say this: the iPhone/Touch user interface is downright revolutionary. Awesome in every way. Why? After all, on paper, there are many other products that are as good or better than both. My answer is simple: it’s the software. Pure and simple. Apple “gets it” when it comes to software.

In my year of resisting temptation to buy an iPhone -- and I should point out that my only real reason has been that I’m a T-Mobile USA user, not an AT&T Wireless user, and I simply didn’t want the hassle of change -- I’ve been using a Blackberry 8800. On paper, the specs of this and several other Blackberry devices are substantively similar to the iPhone’s. But that’s positively where any comparison would stop dead in its tracks.

The user interface of the Blackberry is simply neanderthal compared to the iPhone. The ease of using the iPhone is staggering when you compare it with the Blackberry. The browser is based on Safari, and it works. It’s not perfect, but it really does do a great job. The Blackberry browser, by comparison, is an embarassment. Even when I dropped in the third party (but free) Opera Mini 4.1 browser, the browsing experience on the Blackberry is horrid in comparison.

I’m not sure if Blackberry and other smart phone manufacturers are aware of just how far forward Apple has leaped ahead of them in terms of usability, but if they’re not aware, then they’re fools. It is a quantum leap forward, without a doubt.

And again, it is the software that makes the difference. All you iPhone competitors out there take note. With the 3G iPhone rolling out, I predict they are going to not just rule this market, but they are going to shatter the competition. Between the 3G networking speed, the enterprise friendly features (like Exchange connectivity), and the new price point, the only non-iPhone people are going to be people who have never tried an iPhone.

You’re on notice.

Perhaps my very favorite thing about living in Virginia is the May/June honeysuckle season. I've often had the itch to move somewhere else--Savannah, Tuscany, Rhone valley, Kaua'i, you name it--but even if I did, I'd have to be back here for a couple weeks every year to experience this miracle of nature.

The air is warming up. The leaves are fully green. The grass is green. And then out comes the honeysuckle to play. It is an almost cloyingly sweet smell in the air, and once you've experienced it, it stays with you for the rest of your life.

It is a flowering vine that thrives in the US Southeast. The flowers look like this (from Wikipedia):



Today is a prime example of honeysuckle at its peak. I just went for a mountain bike ride on this 18C (that's about 65 degrees in neanderthal units), 43% humidity, and essentially cloudless sky day. The smell of the honeysuckle hit me immediately as I walked my bike past the honeysuckle vine behind my house -- we planted the vine there when we moved here in 1995, so that I could enjoy days just like this. And then throughout my ride, each time I rode near a vine, boom there it was. Utterly fabulous.

Even my beloved Kaua`i, for all its tropical splendor and glory, doesn't have anything that can touch Virginia honeysuckle. The sad part is that it's only in full bloom for a couple weeks. When the heat cranks up here by mid-June, the flowers die quickly. I still get whiffs of it from time to time when I take my bike out just after sunrise, which is about the only bearably not-hot part of the day by July, but it's nothing as strong as it is now.

The vine itself is pretty, but most people wouldn't even give it a second look. It's all about the smell in the air.

Viva la honeysuckle!

Cheers,

Ken

This week wasn't any ordinary Bistro Friday. Nope, I spent my BF in beautiful, tropical, stinkin hot, Singapore.

I've been here since Sunday doing work for a customer. Earlier in the week, we went out to dinner for some excellent local cuisine, served at an absolutely amazing multi-cultural buffet at the nearby Grand Hyatt hotel. Everything was completely top notch, as I'd expect from a Grand Hyatt.

During the dinner, we were talking about the different foods of the world, and I--perhaps somewhat foolishly--said how culinarily adventurous I am. I like to try just about anything. Well, I do draw the line now and then, but for the most part, if it doesn't involve things that I just can't ethically accept, then I'll try things.

She asked me if I'd ever tried Durian. I hadn't, but I had heard of it on an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations". (I really like that show. Among other reasons, it's the only travel/food show I know of with a parental warning at the beginning. Apart from that, I largely agree with the culinary adventures Bourdain goes on, and seek them out whenever I'm in the regions he covers -- case in point, durian.)

Then she said, "we'll go get some durian on Friday after work, then." Had I gone too far? Had I spoken more than I'm willing to do? After all, some of the write-ups I've read about durian are pretty extreme (and funny). Plus, durian is literally illegal in public places here in Singapore. There are signs outside the subway stations saying "No Durians" with a little silhouette of the poor fruit. Oh no... This is no bluff, I thought.

But Bistro Friday came, and I hopped into the taxi to go to one of the local fruit mongers where durian is sold. The fruit monger is on a side street in the red light district where I'm quite sure not many tourists go. But, as soon as we got out of the taxi, I knew we were in the right place.

It's an open air--mercifully--fruit market with stacks and stacks and stacks of the beloved durian fruit, which is only in season during April and May. Each fruit is roughly the size of a cantaloupe.

They are spiny on the outside, which is actually where the name comes from. (From the Malaysian word for thorn, which is quite similar to the Afrikaans word for thorn, I might add.)




Other than the spiny outside, they look harmless enough, but don't let looks deceive. The smell is really powerful.

The fruit monger selected a ripe durian for us and kindly opened it for us to eat. The smell only gets more intense when the fruit is opened up, by the way.

I somewhat reluctantly went ahead and took my first bite--WOW! I immediately forgot that I was eating something that smelled like rotten, stewing, sewage and recognized why they call this the king of fruits. I'm a durian believer, instantly.

The flavor is kind of like vanilla pudding, flavored with almonds. It is soft, succulent, and unlike any flavor you'd expect to find in a fruit pod. Simply amazing.

So, when you find your way to Singapore, you absolutely MUST seek out this much-maligned fruit. It is so very worth the effort!

Cheers from Singapore,

Ken

I'm sitting here in San Diego's Lindbergh Field airport, waiting for my red-eye flight home. (Then I have a short weekend at home before heading back on the road to Singapore...)

I had a magnificent meal tonight at one of my favorite San Diego restaurants, Parallel 33. Absolutely highly recommended! If you're in the area and are looking for a cuisine that will excite you to the core, you've got to go here!

But that's not why I'm writing this journal entry tonight.

I'm writing this because of my experience here in the United "red carpet" lounge. After my P33 meal, I rolled down the hill to Lindbergh Field, dropped off my car, changed into more casual clothes, and came here to the lounge to relax for a bit before braving the all-night flight home. Big deal.

Well, that's what I *thought*, anyway. Big deal. When I presented my card to the receptionist, she asked me, "do you drink beer". My first thought, after "will you marry me," was "um...occasionally...w-h-y?" She explained that she needed to decide which beers to stock here in the lounge and was looking for some customer opinions. Now my antennae went on full alert. "Of course, I'd be *happy* to 'take one for the team' and act as your guinea pig."

Alas, that's not what she was looking for. But, it wasn't all bad either. She had a list of about 500 beers to choose from and was hoping to narrow it down to 3 or 4. She asked me things like, "what's the difference between an ale and a pilsner?" AND SHE WAS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN THE ANSWERS!

Now, I was convinced that something I'd eaten at P33 was somehow hallucinogenic, but I braved on. I suggested a line-up of a couple heavier beers (Pete's Wicked Ale and Newcastle Brown) and a couple lighter beers (Heineken and Sapporo). I explained it would be a good line-up of several nationalities and styles. She seemed happy with the choices, filled out the order form, and said "done".

My only remaining dilemma is that it'll be another 4 months before I'm back in town. I'll have to stock up on RCC drink vouchers between now and then so I can enjoy a couple when I'm back -- to wash down another magnificent meal at P33, of course!

Seriously, P33 is one of the very few restaurants I've experienced where I'm NEVER bored and ALWAYS enjoy their offerings. The menu is never the same twice. I savor meandering through the menu -- READING it, that is. If only I could down 10 (or so) appetizers and 10 main courses...

Tonight I started with an ahi (tuna) poke, washed back with a Ken Forrester chenin blanc from Cape Town. That, followed by a seared scallop main course with lentils, caramelized pearl onions, squash, and chanterelle mushrooms, washed back with a glass of temperanillo from Spain's Ribero del Duero region. All that, followed by a Turkish coffee. Absolutely magnificent!

Cheers,

Ken

I'm here on the gorgeous island of Kaua'i. It's the oldest of the Hawai'ian islands and is about as close to perfect as any place on earth I've ever experienced. Check out my photo gallery if you're interested, but to further illustrate, here are a couple of my highlights from yesterday:

1. Played 18 holes of golf yesterday at Po'ipu Bay. A fabulous course that's about a mile from where we stay. It hosted the PGA Grand Slam event for about 8 years or so. Perfect sunny day.
2. Went to my favorite sunset spot, at Po'ipu Beach. Saw a monk seal sleeping on the beach. We stood about 10 feet from him/her and watched this "aquatic basset hound" snooze away.
3. While watching the sunset, a small wedding party walked onto the beach and got married right in front of us, just as the sun was setting. When the ceremony ended, the entire beach crowd applauded wildly.
4. Came back to the condo for some wonderful barbecued chicken, washed back by a Chilean cabernet sauvignon.

So, perhaps these aren't things that interest you much, but they all add up to R&R perfection in my book. And all the more reason why I so thoroughly soak up my two weeks here in paradise every couple years. Not nearly long or frequent enough, but any time here is time well spent.

Aloha,

Ken

Most anyone who knows me also knows I spend a lot of time traveling. Ever since starting my consulting practice, I've stuck with the strategy that keeping my travel business on one set of vendors is the best approach. This doesn't always work, but most of the time it does.

In particular, as a result of my "customer loyalty," I'm a United Airlines "1K," a Marriott Gold, a Hyatt Gold, and a Hertz 5-Star Gold customer.

I really believe that this is the best approach--though not necessarily these vendors--for anyone who spends a fair amount of time on the road. Here's why.

Coming home from a business trip to Belgium on Sunday, I had booked an economy class seat on United. In fact, I was boarded and settled into my "economy plus" seat, all ready to go. (I save my gratis upgrades for really long and/or overnight flights, whenever I can.) As passengers were entering the cabin, one of the gate agents approached me and gave me a new boarding pass, in business class, and said, "thanks for all your business!". Naturally, I gratefully accepted and changed seats.

This upgrade was unsolicited and unexpected. No doubt, United did it for space management, but the point is they didn't have to do it. I truly had the feeling that they do appreciate my business. That's what it takes. (I should add that the exact same thing happened on my return from Amsterdam nearly a year ago, after my cycling tour of Holland with my dad.)

Similarly, with the other vendors I frequent, I often get unsolicited upgrades and such. Marriott also guarantees me a room. If none is available, they put me up elsewhere at their expense.

It's the little things like this that keep me coming back, and they know it.

On the other hand, I know that these vendors all have their blemishes. Sometimes I get furious at them for one reason or another. But even when things go wrong, they tend to fix them in my favor. Coming home from Mexico last July, a weather delay forced me to miss my connecting flight--the last of the day--out of Chicago. United put me in the airport Hilton, which is walking distance away, at their expense and apologized for my inconvenience.

If you must spend as much time on the road as I do, I'm convinced this is the best way to do it.

Cheers,

Ken

A couple months ago, I wrote here about email security and how I'd become a "notary" for the free email certificate service provided by Thawte. Well, that's unchanged, but thanks to a colleague who alerted me to another free certificate service provided by CAcert (also see their Wikipedia page here), I was able to become recognized as a CAcert identity assurer using my Thawte credentials.

More of the same, you say? Well, only to some extent. CAcert differs from Thawte in many ways. For one thing, they're a completely free and open certificate provider, which I have to salute. Using their service, I can also generate server keys, which is handy. (That's right, completely free SSL certificates for my web sites!) Additionally, they will sign existing PGP/GPG keys for their users, which is a nice addition to my GPG key signatures.

Is there a downside? Well, not much, but if one is to be found, it's that CAcert's root certificates aren't yet in everyone's browser and email certificate repositories, as shipped by their operating system or browser vendors. That's changing, but for now, CAcert users will from time to time find people who cannot verify their identities. That's disappointing, but as I said, it's changing.

Why bother? Well, if email security is important to you, the answer should be self-evident. If it's not, consider the SSL certificate argument. When you connect to (say) your bank, your browser uses SSL to encrypt your session with the bank, in all likelihood. Your browser is also validating their authenticity by looking at the bank's X.509 server certificate and ensuring that you are indeed talking to your bank, and not some rogue site run by some phishing miscreants aimed at stealing your money. With an email certificate, you can provide that same time of identity assurance to people you send emails to. It also enables sharing of encrypted emails if both parties have a certificate, but just the identity validation alone is worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

Oh, and that "price of admission," in the cases of Thawte or CAcert, is US$0. They are free services.

The question you should be asking is why NOT bother? Seriously. Some people find signed email and "dealing with certificates" to be difficult, confusing, not worth it, etc. You may be one of those people. It's my opinion that those attitudes are not well founded with the reality of how bad the state of email security is these days. Imagine if all your friends and colleagues used validated email identities, and you were able to tell your emailer to delete all non-signed emails. Voilá, no more spam. That's something that we security folk refer to as "white listing".

Enough blather for now. I urge anyone and everyone who reads this to go out and get a free certificate from Thawte and/or CAcert. Then spend the time to get your identity validated by a couple Thawte "notaries" and/or CAcert assurers. It's well worth the effort.

Cheers,

Ken

Some of you may remember my "Pigs can fly!" posting here where I explained why I've finally gone and gotten myself a Macintosh (Macbook Pro 15"). Well, it's been well over a year now of Mac bliss. I remain absolutely convinced that Macs are the right choice for me, and in fact are right for a whole heck of a lot of people. I'm certain that Apple's growth is representative of a renaissance in computing -- a new age of enlightenment. Strong words, but they're not without meaning.

In my 1.25 years of Mac-dom, I've found several pieces of software that I consider to be essential to me. Things that I really wouldn't want to be without. I thought I'd share those here, for what they're worth. Mind you, I've installed quite a bit of software on my Mac, but the list below will focus on the things that I use daily and that (by and large) are in my system dock.

My list of essential Mac software (other than the basics that come with the system), in no particular order:

• Firefox with no-script. Let me first say that I really like Apple's Safari browser. I'd be using it now except for one little thing -- control over JavaScript. In my opinion, JavaScript, is responsible for the vast majority of web-related security bad things. I need to have control over what sites I want running JavaScript on my computer. Mozilla's Firefox, combined with the No-Script plug-in give me exactly that. No-Script starts off disallowing all JavaScript, but you can add sites one at a time into a "whitelist" of sorts. That way, you can turn on JS for the sites that you want running it, and all the rest can't run scripting at all. Not perfect, but it's a LOT more control than I had under Safari.
• Newsfire. I read a lot of news sites on a daily basis, from tech news to Mac stuff, wireless stuff, and even world events. Oh, and news from the wine/culinary world as well. My only hope of keeping up with all this information is RSS. I was introduced a while back to Newsfire, which is an absolutely splendid RSS reader. Now, I should note that I'm currently experimenting with Apple's own Mail program's RSS reading capabilities -- which is a new feature of Leopard. But I still have my Newsfire and may well go back to it if/when Mail fails me. It's commercial, but not particularly expensive.
• Parallels. I was a VMWare user way back in the day, and I loved it. When I moved to the Mac, I needed a way to occasionally run another OS. So, a few months ago, I added Parallels to my list of apps. I now run a Windows XP box in a virtual machine. It's great for the training I do. I can load up XP, install stuff on it, hurt it, make it beg for mercy, cry like a baby, or whatever -- and then go back to the pristine XP configuration at the click of a mouse. And it's quite fast, too. Absolutely fantastic for my needs. It's commercial, but isn't very expensive -- look for it on Amazon for a discount.
• Callwave SMS widget. I do a lot of text messaging. Although my phone plan includes a huge bucket of messages for U.S. numbers, international SMSs are still quite expensive (in the quantities I send). This little SMS widget provides me with free messages. There's a daily limit, but I rarely hit it. Great stuff, and it's really easy to use. Oh, and it's free.
• Rapid Weaver. This one is my newest addition to my must-have list. But I've come to really like Rapid Weaver. What a great tool for building and maintaining web sites like this one! It is commercial, but not very expensive, and there are some coupon codes floating around the net that can get you a few dollars off the retail price.
• MacGourmet. Another inexpensive and highly worthwhile commercial tool, I've come to really like MacGourmet for organizing my favorite recipes. (I'll be putting at least several of my recipes on this site in MacGourmet format shortly, by the way.)
• Missing Sync for Blackberry. I used a Blackberry years ago, and now I'm back. I love the email comms, and my provider (T-Mobile USA) has a great all-you-can-eat data plan and an all-you-can-eat international roaming data plan that are fabulous. This essential (and commercial, but cheap) app enables me to sync my Blackberry data over to my Mac. For various reasons, the iPhone isn't yet ready for me, but the Blackberry serves my needs very well. Without Missing Sync, I'd be sunk.
• Spanning Sync. As a small business owner, I don't have a calendaring/groupware server for my company. I have an email and file server hosted externally, but not a calendar server (yet). Google Calendar came along and helped me with that enormously. Spanning Sync takes Google Calendar to the next level -- it syncs bi-directionally with my Apple Calendar data. Awesome add-on! It's sold on an annual service subscription basis, but is way cheaper than a calendar server. Finally, Caren and I can share a calendar.
• Chicken of the VNC. I use Virtual Network Computer a lot for administering the computers on my internal net. Chicken of the VNC is a great and free VNC client for the Mac.
• Macports. One of the things I like so much about Apple's OS X operating system is its UNIX underbelly. I've been a UNIX guy for over 2 decades, and I'm just more comfortable there than I ever was on MS-DOS (or its derivatives). Macports is a collection of (mostly) BSD-UNIX derived applications that have been ported to the Mac. All open source, free, and excellent!
• TiVo Desktop. I love my TiVo. I love my Mac. A few months back, we upgraded our old Series-1 TiVo to a Series-2, thanks to TiVo's offer of transferring our lifetime service subscription over. Now, my TiVo is finally on my data network, and I can move things back and forth between the computers and the TiVo. TiVo Desktop is the piece that enables me to share movies, shows, etc., from my Mac over and play them on the TiVo. Absolutely essential, and it's free from the wonderful folks at TiVo.
• TiVo Download Manager. I still love my TiVo. This enormously useful piece of free software allows me to download files from my TiVo onto my Mac -- and convert them into MPEG-2 format at the same time. It's actually a front-end to curl and TiVo Decoder, but it puts everything in one easy-to-use bundle. I can now grab anything from my TiVo and put it on a big honkin hard drive on my Mac, and then watch it whenever I choose to, without taking up valuable space on the TiVo itself. Great stuff.
• iWork '08. As you might expect, I require the ability to read/write MS-Word, Powerpoint, and Excel formatted files quite frequently in my work. I've been a fan of Apple's iWork for some time now. When '08 came out a few months ago, I grabbed a "family pack" (with 5 legal installations available) for about $100 on Amazon. That's $20 per seat, and it's some of the best money I've spent. I still keep MS-Office around, but I find myself using iWork more and more instead of Office. Keynote (the Powerpoint equivalent) alone is worth the price of admission. I build presentations with it that look worlds better than any I've ever seen in Powerpoint.

There they are. Great stuff, each and every one. I run all of these (as noted) on Leopard, which I'm absolutely thrilled with. Nothing I ever experienced in PC- or Linux-land ever came close for me. I'm a believer.

It is the age of enlightenment.

Cheers,

Ken

The first "Internet" application I ever used was email, circa 1983. Seeing computers used to communicate (and not just solve scientific equations) was an epiphany to me. But, I was shattered to later learn that email isn't secure. In fact, it is about as far from secure as anything we know in the electronic world.

So, for about the past 2 years, I've been slowly -- but increasingly loudly -- advocating secure email. I've been a PGP user since it was introduced to the public in 1992, and more recently, I've been an S/MIME user. I started digitally signing all of my outgoing emails as of about 2 years back. It was an experiment, and one that hasn't entirely succeeded, I should add.

Then, about a year or so ago, I learned about Thawte's free email certificate program. They use a certificate signing mechanism not entirely unlike PGP's web of trust. When you get a free (!) Thawte email certificate, you start by only being able to include your email address in the certificate. Then, you get your identity verified by Thawte notaries, who are community volunteers who help the effort. Once you've gotten sufficient (50) points, you can include your real name in your (still free) email certificates.

This seemed like an interesting and novel approach to me, so I went ahead and took the plunge. In the last couple months, I've gotten not just the 50 points I needed to have my real name in my certificate, but the 100 points needed to become a Thawte notary. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and be part of a solution and not just whine about all the problems.

In order to notarize a Thawte certificate, the notary must meet the certificate holder in person and verify her identity via two forms of national identification (e.g., passport and driver's license).

I am now a Thawte notary. If any of you are interested in this free (!) and useful service, start by going out to the Thawte web site and getting yourself a freemail certificate. Most modern emailers and browsers can handle X.509 certificates just fine. Follow Thawte's instructions (admittedly, their web site isn't entirely intuitive) and start using your certificate. Then, go out and find a couple notaries in your area, again via the Thawte web site. It only takes a few notarizations and then you'll be up and running with a free X.509 certificate.

I'm happy to notarize any of you who want to make use of this -- after following the proper procedure, of course.

Big deal, eh? Well, the big deal is that now you can send email that your recipients can validate with a high degree of confidence came from you. Believe it or not, that is a big deal. If you want to be able to trust the email you receive, then this little bit of infrastructure is essential.

Cheers,

Ken

Ok, so I've finally made the leap and picked up a copy of a really nice web editor called Rapid Weaver. Apart from being really easy to use (on a Mac, of course), it has enabled me to do some neat things with my personal and my business web sites. Although I'd like to see a little more functionality, I'm real happy with it overall. Perhaps the functionality I seek is there, but I just haven't figured it out yet. Give it time...

In any case, I'm still moving some stuff over from my old site, but most of the important things are over here already. Still to come: culinary adventures (does anyone read these?), cool links, etc.

Ideas and suggestions are always appreciated.

Oh yeah, here in the journal (NOT blog!), you can navigate to archived postings by date or category over on the right hand side of the page.

Cheers,

Ken

I'm a cable modem user (on Cox Communications) in Fairfax County, Virginia for several years now. Recently, Cox offered a higher speed option (15 mpbs by 2 mbps), so I jumped right on it.

The upgrade went smoothly, but I was only measuring speeds of around 10x2. After a bit of searching, I found out that I ought to upgrade to a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, so I did that. Now, I'm regularly measuring speeds of 16-19mbps down and 2-2.5mbps up. I've tested at various times of the day and those numbers have been quite consistent.

I should add that the modem swap was painless and that Cox support was entirely effective. In one phone call, I gave them my new MAC address and fired up the modem. I did experience a couple of network problems, but it turned out to be a router problem at my end, so I can't fault Cox for that.

I also noticed that the voice quality of my VoIP service (Sunrocket) immediately improved as well.

So, put me in the "highly satisfied customer" group. Kudos to Cox for offering this service!

Quite a few years ago, I became a "Mac hater". Long story, but the short of it is that a Mac net used by our publications department (at a company where I was working) let me down at a critical time. It caused me a lot of grief. Then, when Apple killed off the Newton, I swore eternal hatred.

Before I go on, I should note that I still use my Newton 2100 every day. It still has the best "to do" list handler I've ever used. Despite the jokes about its handwriting recognition -- which were ALL about its first generation of software -- it still recognizes my handwriting better than I do. It remains the best PDA software ever written, as far as I'm concerned.

And then, slowly, several other things happened:
1) Apple put BSD UNIX under the hood in OS X.
2) OS X has matured through a few major releases and is now a superb OS.
3) Apple put Intel CPUs into the Macbook Pro line. "Boot Camp" added the ability to boot/install NATIVE Windows XP. So, I have that as a fall-back if I simply can't get something running under OS X. (I haven't needed to use it.)
4) I get a nice educational discount via CMU, along with a fabulous rebate on an iPod -- which I gave to my wife.
5) I've been listening to numerous people's opinions that I value who all say that it's time to try Mac. You know who you are...

So, I switched a week ago. Now, I'm hopelessly, unapologetically, completely a Mac guy. It has unified my computing needs/desires in a way that nothing else has been able to. UNIX where it matters and the world's best user interface in front. It talks with my Linux servers and my windows desktops/laptops just fine.

Plus, the Macbook Pro, with a 2 Ghz dual-core Intel CPU, DDR2 memory, SATA hard disk, etc., is the fastest computer in my gaggle. This thing absolutely ROCKS! People complain about Macs costing more than their PC counterparts, but you really do get more for the money. I'm fine with that. I've never minded paying a bit more and getting a bit more.

As a result, my laptop is no longer a traveling copy of my data. My Linux servers now carry a non-traveling backup of my work. As it should be.

The Mac talks wifi, bluetooth, usb, firewire, infrared, VPN -- you name it. I can connect up to _something_ nearly anywhere on the planet and securely connect to the net.

And, one of my favorite things about Apple, from the first day that I used my first (of 3) Newtons, is the cross-application data integration. My Macbook hasn't let me down. My IM package (iChat) gets its real names from my rolodex (Address Book). My email program (Mail) shows me a green icon next to any of my contacts (from Address Book) who is logged into IM at the moment. THAT is cross-app data integration. I haven't felt that feeling since I first learned to love my Newton. No Windows or Linux set of apps has ever provided that feeling to me. Apple GETS IT. Their software guys and gals know software like no one else. Kudos!

I now think of "PC people" as those that haven't tried a Mac. Once you try, you will never accept anything less. Redmond should be quaking in their shoes (but they're not).