We have had Teddy as part of our family now for one year. He is a wonderful dog who is a lovable pup, which we still do not know what he is “made up of”.

One year ago:

And a more recent photo:

I cannot picture our family without him.

After some dumb tactics from our former host, Scott and I decided to move webhosting companies. The end result has been a mad dash to get things back up and running and create the illusion that nothing has changed.

I think the new host so far has been super. Things are faster - at least to me - and Scott had some issues with the intial sign up (their web form was doing weird things) and was able to get someone on the phone right away.

Our former host was decent enough from a technical perspective. We never had any MASSIVE issues but a few hiccups. The problem really was with their customer service, or lack there of. When we are trying to resolve something and Scott calls them half a dozen times and they respond via email, you know things are not what you need.

I also last night got the longest night sleep I have gotten in a long time. Colin slept in until 7:45am today. It felt like I was on vacation. WOW! Dare to dream!

Since the release of the Amazon Kindle and my initial thoughts, there has been a lot more said about the device, from news sources to tech sites, to geeks on parade.

I think overall, my impressions have not changed one bit. It is still over priced, it is still locked into proprietary formats, and it is still not a book. That last one will never change. But a few items that I like about what Amazon has done.

• The auto-download of periodicals is nice. And yes, it is cheaper and more environmentally sound that the “dead tree” editions. BUT, you can get most , if not all, of the content on the respective periodicals websites for free.
• The download locker idea is great and something Amazon has always done. You download a book, and for some reason you erase it. No problem, Amazon keeps a record and you can redownload it right away, any time.

This could go one of two ways. It could be like the iPod. Prior to the iPod, with its tightly integrated software and store, MP3 players were around (like eBook readers) but they were very fringe and only had a small following. Apple introduces the complete package and the market blows up over time. Can the Kindle do the same thing? I am not sure. One difference that is apparent to me is that I can transfer my existing CDs to my iPod, can’t do that with my books. Plus, Apple has always been design kings and dealing with delivery of content was secondary (though integral) to the iPod success. Amazon has been masters of delivery but design of user interfaces or devices , well, they have never done that. And if their website is any indication of what usability is, we are in trouble.

The other direction is a very cool idea; that it will become a very expensive paper weight.

The one thing I could see happen is that Amazon would become the eBook provider for all of the next generation of eBook readers. They have always been a content deliverer, not the context. It is odd too, their take on music downloads is the complete opposite. MP3 ’s without DRM that will work on any portable or device out there, verses their book approach, which is locked and proprietary.

Of course the cost and tight integration would change and I think that one-click idea is what they are hoping makes this work.

Only time will tell. I still think eBooks are great for Textbooks and manuals. But for my novel of choice, I still like “dead trees”.

BTW - Amazon claims the Kindle sold out its intial run in 5.5 hours. I am not sure if that is demand (OMG I HAVE TO HAVE ONE) or supply ( we have 19 Kindles, - OOPS! SOLD OUT! - LOOK how awesome it is!)

My brother turned the big 3-0 on the 23rd and I in my elder age am only posting about it now. I’ll blame my old age for forgetting.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Recently, there has been some information out there about this years harvest of hops (particularly) and the impact this will have on the craft/microbrew industry. Just so you can get some insight; here are some excepts from some local craft brewers.

From Weyerbacher:

In late September I was told by another brewery that malt was going up about 40% and hops 30 to 40%. I started calling suppliers and they confirmed this was true, and also that they have no prices locked in yet. Additionally, I was informed that many farmers are not honoring their contracts to the fullest extent (don’t blame the farmers please) due to the crazy price situation that’s evolving in crop farming, with corn being twice the price it was last year.

He goes on about what that means to the buyer at the store

A price increase at the brewery of 10 to 15%, just to cover costs, no gouging whatsoever, will result in a price increase at retail of 20 to 25%.

And Now a few words from Victory:

Autumn has brought with it the harvest, as usual. But for brewers, this year the harvest has delivered concern and discomfort rather than the warm glow of abundance.

You see, the raw ingredients of beer, barley and hops, have come up short of global demand. The factors underlying this situation are a few rather than merely one.

Hops are in the most dire of circumstances with certain hop varieties non-existent in the marketplace at this point and those that have been secured by brewers have been at premiums of 30 to 300% over last year’s prices. With shell-shocked craft brewers now prowling online industry forums in search of hops much like those without tickets outside a sold out Grateful Dead concert in need of ‘a miracle,’ the situation needs some clarity and we’ll attempt here to supply it for you.

Brian went as far as to contact Dogfish Head to find out what they were doing about the situation. Were they looking a a price jump, recipe changes, etc.

From Bri’s email exchange (Brian - tell me if I should remove this )

Bri asked:

I’m just curious, with the way things look with the hop shortage and the
extreme amount of hops in your beers (especially the “Minutes” line) do you
for see a change in hops being used or less availability of some of your
beers?

And Andrew responded:

Don’t worry, we contract out 3 years on hops so we are covered. We plan no
changes to our recipes.

What is not talked about in that exchange is the price. Supply and demand is a very interesting and well researched economics principal.

My concerns are very simple. What will this do to the small craft brewers that cannot either handle the price increase or the end product is marked up so much that their sales drop as a result? Will this drive enough back to BudMillerCoors to cause a slump in the craft brewing industry long term? And most importantly, though there is talk here of short term increases, will this work out (as example) like gas prices. Raise the price $1 and people get upset, lower it by 50 cents (BTW - I just looked and there is no ASCII code for a ‘cents’ sign - damn engineers). We think “Huzzah! the price dropped” and their little bean counters giggle and know they are making more on every cold one.

Brian and I have had a few email correspondence about the subject and both seem to be saying the same thing. I would interested in his thoughts with his brewing insight to the cost of things, though obviously buying in the smallish quantities he buys in may not be effected as items become unavailable in the homebrew market from time to time anyway.

So now Amazon has a gadget that is an eBook reader that is suppossed to fix the eBook “problem”. No PC needed, not connection, etc. It piggybacks on Sprints network and downloads stuff wirelessly and most ebooks are $9.99 or less.

AND it is “bargain priced” at $399.

Check out their pages about it. You might feel so cool looking at a cutting edge device that I think is stupid.

Why stupid? Well lots of reasons. Let’s start with eBooks in general.

• Format: they deliver them in a proprietary format that only works on the Kindle. So unlike my dated BOOK which I can lend or sell or trade, this HAS to be read on my Kindle.
• Reading is HARD on a screen : I know this used eInk (or something dumb like that) to make it more book-like, well I have something that is even MORE book like - it is called a BOOK
• People like books: People LIKE books. They like the feel of a cover and the paper, the cover flaps with info the art of “how much more is left” by feeling the number and thickness of pages left
• ebooks are good for 2 things: textbooks and manuals. and the funny part - most people PRINT them out.

And now onto the PRICE!!

• $399!! - I can get a bargain basement laptop for that can do A LOT more, including reading eBooks
• So after my $400 investment, I need to pay $10 a book. So how many real books do I need to buy before the cost balances out?

The big reasons why “book technology” has worked so well for the last 500 years is cost and portability. The problem I have as a whole with digital media (be it music, video, books, etc) is ownership. With the ancient physical media I owned a licensed copy that I can sell, trade, read, or use in any compliant device (cd player/turntable for music - my eyeballs and brain for reading). Until the formats become unlocked from the devices, they will never gain permanent traction. Ask yourself why MP3 is the default choice for sound files? Quality? File size? No - there are other formats that do that better. It is that it is the format that is most portable. Any device that does not play MP3 is doomed (Sony tried this - and the devices failed miserably)

The Nerdworld blog over at time says pretty much the same thing (using much better phrasing)

A book I wanted on Amazon was listed in hardback at a bargain price, $6.99. So I ordered a copy. And when I was presented with the final screen, I had 4 shipping options. Look, one for Saturday.

I had never seen this before but I think it is great. I am an Amazon Prime member and the price for Saturday shipping was $4.99. Obviously paying a premium for the weekend delivery - and it would have been overnight as well. I went with Two-day shipping, free with Amazon Prime.

I wonder if this is just for the holidays or a new permanent feature. I would like it to stay, even if I never use it. Knowing that I have the option is great.

It’s called flushing….

The building I work in has a small men’s room with 2 stalls and BOTH of them had floaters in it this morning. You know, is flushing the toilet that hard. Why is leaving your shit in the toilet ok? Do you do that at home? Are you still in 7th grade? What a pain in the ass (pun intended)

Flying Solo

I am flying solo at home on the parenting front because my wife is out of town for work. She will be back Sunday and then has to be back at work on Monday - that kinda stinks. On the home front, the tiring part is doing both dropping and picking up. And on top of it, my day care provider is closing early today. Thank goodness my job is this flexible.

Book Review Plugin: the update

I have 2 plugins I have been looking at and both do things differently. I am still not sure which one I want to choose. When I do choose, I will inform you with the WHY and a pros and cons type of post.

My iPod is in love with King’s X

For my birthday I got a small sound station for my iPod for my office. It is great and it is nice to just drop in my iPod, click Play and be off and running for the day. Well today apparently my iPod really wants to listen to King’s X. In the last hour, I have heard 4 King’s X songs. Now, I like King’s X, have nearly all their stuff and have seen them in concert, but when you are shuffling over 7200 songs and it seems to find this group over and over, I just think it is weird. (Just followed the King’s X link - they have a new album coming in early 2008 - called “Go Tell Somebody” - cool)

It also shuffled 3 Billy Joel songs in a row yesterday. Weird huh?