Category: San Francisco

The MacWorld Report

Back from a day playing boss-sanctioned hookey from work. Had a chance to head into San Francisco for this year’s MacWorld.

While there I tried to remember when, exactly, was my first trip to MacWorld. I believe it was 1994 and I was gainfully employed by Sandia Labs. Sandia, at the time, bought quite a bit of Mac gear. Because we were such a good customer, I got a ticket to see the keynote. This was before Steve had returned and Gil Amelio was still at the helm. Anyone remember him?

That was the year that Jeff Goldblum opened the keynote with a bit of promotion for the movie “Independence Day”, a copy of which was taped to the bottom of each of our seats. I think I still have that VHS tape in a box in the garage.

Ah well, the good old days. Back when grabbing the entire collection of Iomega Buttons was cool and schwag fell like manna from the sky (I still use some of the t-shirts gained at past Comdex and MacWorld shows to check the oil in my car and polish fingerprints off my guitar).

But those days are over.

This year’s MacWorld was….to say the least…underwhelming.

It’s hard to top the buzz and excitement of the 2007 MacWorld what with the lickable iPhones twirling in jewelry showcases, so close and yet SO out of reach.

But last year’s show had a lot of buzz for the iPod too. Lots of cases, accessories, and audio software to make it fun. There was some of that this year, but it was pretty much the same gear on display as last year.

A lot of the buzz was gone too, the energy was low, there were empty booth spaces and even the Apple booth, usually the showpiece of the floor, was less than usual.

Here’s the booth:

Here’s the show floor (taken from the Apple booth):

The Apple booth was the same sort of set up as in past years. Thick gray carpet, minimalistic fixtures, highlight on the “star” product.

Last year, as mentioned, the iPhone was this dizzying spinning tantalizing thing.

So I was excited to see how they would display the new MacBook Air.

Well, here’s the answer:

That is five MacBook Air bodies hanging from a string. Uh. Okay.

I went over to take a look, and it was cool, but the swinging MacBooks were not accessible, unable to be opened, and not actually functioning machines. So it was…odd.

I did get a change to belly up to the bar and test drive one with the help of a very nice and knowledgeable Apple employee. The thing is scary light. Amazing. Three pounds. Compared to my MacBook Pro, which now feels like a ton of bricks, this thing is a feather and I can see it SO easily tucked into a bag for hitting the road.

It has this cool flip out door for the ports. Only one USB port, which I’ve read some bloggers complaining about online, but I think that can be easily managed. The screen is delicious and it just looks good. Nicely done!

The rest of the show was only ok. Like I said, low energy and not really any new products to get excited about. I had expected to see a lot of accessories for the iPhone and was gravely disappointed. The Cute Boy™ bought a new case for his, I held off. Didn’t find exactly what I wanted.

Saw a pretty cool camera case/backpack that they wanted a lot of money for, but it was really functional. Didn’t buy it, but it was nice to dream.

Tried to get close to the Canon booth, but to no avail. That one is always very popular.

Got only a few schwaggy items, but came home mostly empty handed.

So to sum up MacWorld 2008, in my opinion, it was kind of like the keynote, to quote NewMexiKen, “is that all there is?”

Oh, I tried to “live blog” from the Microsoft lounge, but it was totally packed in there. I hadn’t brought my own MacBook with me to the show, and the few iMacs they had for use were taken up by squatters. Oh well, you get this reacap instead. It’s semi-live cuz after this day, I’m dead on my feet.

All photos by Karen Fayeth and grainy cuz they were taken with an iPhone.

Convergence

The two halves of me, the New Mexico girl living in California (and a ragin’ Giants baseball fan) collided today.

For Christmas someone gave me a page-a-day Giants and baseball trivia calendar.

The entry for January 14, 2008:

“Who is the only National Baseball Hall of Famer born in New Mexico.”

Wha! I didn’t even know we had one!

The answer:

Ralph Kiner is his name, he was born in Santa Rita and he played most for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s now a broadcaster for the Mets.

Oh Fair New Mexico, how I love to learn your little secrets.

Image via Wikipedia.

Alert! Frosty down! Repeat, Frosty *down*

Yes, folks, the mother-of-all-storms, or rather, the middle of three mother-of-all-storms has passed over the Bay Area today. Oh what havoc it has wrought!

Accidents! Solo spin-outs! Semis toppled on the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. Flights delayed! Manhole covers overflowing! Karen and The Cute Boy™ trapped in the bowels of Burlingame as parts of El Camino were flooded! Power out at the Casita Bonita!

And most telling of all, over at the Mediterranean restaurant two blocks over, the six foot plastic Frosty the Snowman, lovingly displayed out front, was torn asunder, carelessly tossed and laying face up on the front porch, top hat rudely ripped from his head, carrot nose cranked to one side, and little twiggy arms reaching toward heaven as though to proclaim “Oh the humanity!”

And at this sight, after a harrowing drive in furiously pounding rain and violent winds, amid the sound of sirens, The Cute Boy™ proclaimed “Frosty down! We have a Frosty down!”

It’s been a hell of a day.

We had to take the Cute Boy’s automobile in to be serviced. For making me get up early. In the inclement weather. And drive with the Bay Area loo-loos, I made him buy me breakfast.

Meanwhile, The Feline did this:

Extended coverage of Storm Watch is all over the local news. The news went an extra half hour in breathless anticipation. For the local meteorologists, THIS is the World Series.

Click here for photos of the utter devastation (except for Frosty. I shoulda taken photo but didn’t….)

Where I come from, they’d call this a certified frog strangling rain….(or the less couth would call this a turd floater, but I’m not so coarse as to say such a thing…*wink*)

This is supposed to blow over by Sunday. It’s gonna be a wild weekend……

Image via SFGate.com

Follow up and updates

So thought I’d tack on to this post from last week regarding the fuel oil spill in the Bay Area.

Over the weekend I picked up the Friday edition of the The Examiner with a headline reading “Fishermen take to Bay as ban lifted”. Below that is a smaller headline “Officials say initial location of oil slick wrong”. I bought some coffee and grabbed a seat and got caught up on the latest. This story had dropped out of the headlines so I had no idea where it stood.

Long way around the barn, the fishing ban imposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on November 13 has been lifted. The article says “…crabs and fish were found safe to eat…” but it doesn’t give any source, who did the testing, and what was tested. Pardon me for remaining suspicious. To add to the drama, the season was opened, but high winds kept most boats off the water.

Below this main story was a smaller one about how in the time immediately following the collision, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided projections about how the oil would move which proved to be wrong. It would be easy for me to sit here and take pot shots, however, I can’t. I’ve been on that water. I’ve sat by that water. It’s notoriously unpredictable.

At the end of the day, it can be described as “a comedy of errors” which often happens in these situations. And plans are underway to figure out how to handle it better next time.

I’m hoping, now, at the end of the day, the fishermen can still make and sell their catch and we can put this environmental disaster behind us.

In other news…cue “nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye”, the ABQjournal reporting today that the City Council voted to put a hold on the traffic camera program, meaning no fines issued until a decision is made in January about whether to even continue the program. Talk about a comedy of errors! Drive on good people of Oh Fair New Mexico!

photo by Karen Fayeth

As promised

Long overdue but not forgotten. Thoughts plague my brain still, despite the news having dropped off the front page of SFGate.com.

Let’s talk about the oil spill here in the Bay Area. Here’s a high level of the events.

On Wednesday, November 7, the Cosco Busan, an 810 foot long container ship, collided with the base of the tower on the western span of the Bay Bridge.

When I first heard this breaking news story, my first worry was for the bridge. Memories of the Bay Bridge collapse in 1989 are still very clear in my head. The Bay Bridge is a major thoroughfare for the people of the Bay Area, and even so much as a lane closure can affect traffic for the entire Bay Area. It’s one of those roads that can never close because even in the heart of the wee hours of the morning, there is heavy traffic. If you’ve seen the bridge, the western half is beautiful, the eastern span looks like Tinker Toys. That’s because it had to be hastily repaired after the earthquake because of all the reasons above. It ain’t pretty, but almost twenty years later, the tinker toys still stand. The ship, however, hit the “pretty” side.

So, as I said, first, I worried about the bridge. Reports started to come out that there was no apparent damage, as the intricate fender structure on the bridge towers to prevent such issues performed as designed. But then soon, another problem came to light. The collision had ripped a 160 foot long hole in the side of the ship at ten feet above the water line. News reports came out that said the ship was leaking fuel oil, but that the crew had taken quick evasive action and contained the spill. They transferred oil from leaking tanks into other tanks. The Coast Guard reported that 8,000 gallons had spilled and action was being taken to begin clean up. Given that the Exxon Valdez spill was in the millions of gallons, all indications were that this was a non-event.

It seemed all was well. But that was not quite true. Here’s where the news reports start giving conflicting details. Finger pointing regarding delays in responding. Accusations about the ship’s captain and crew. Hostile reports of an uncaring Mayor who knew of the spill but left town on vacation anyway. I may never personally know exactly what happened or the truth of all the finger pointing, but I will do my best to report the facts as I know them with a fair peppering of my opinions.

At the end of the day, 58,000 gallons of fuel oil were spilled into the Bay and within hours it was washing up on shore nearby at Crissy Field and Baker Beach. Due to the tide patterns, Marin (north of the Golden Gate) was particularly hard hit.

But here’s where it starts to punch me right in the gut.

I wouldn’t call myself an uber environmentalist, but I certainly do care a lot about the world in which I live. So I was torn up about what effects this spill might cause. The aquatic effects of all this is still fairly new stuff for me being a New Mexico girl. But this one part I “got” right away.

See, this time of year is crab season. During my first year in residence here, I was introduced to a happy Bay Area tradition. Fresh crab for Christmas dinner. My friend who adopted me in those early years would drive to Half Moon Bay on Christmas morning, buy crabs out of the boiling pots, bring them back and we’d dive in with fingers and teeth and happy yummy noises dunking sweet meat into melted butter and slurping it down.

And just before this accident, I’d heard the annual news reports that the crab fishermen had settled on this year’s price for crab and the season was ready to begin.

But wait. Now, we have a problem. We now have a toxic mess floating on the very water where the crabs are caught.

I believe the season is due to start December 1. But wait, you say, isn’t that enough time for the spill to be cleaned up? No, not really. See, the oil floats along for a while, then it sinks. And when it sinks, it contaminates those young crabs that would be prime for the taking in the month of December.

Over the weekend of November 10 and 11, I was in Bodega Bay. Located North of San Francisco, it was a fantastic getaway and of course, The Cute Boy™ talked about the spill on our ride as we went over the Golden Gate and stayed at an ocean side hotel.

While walking around, we saw stacks and stacks of crab pots, primed and ready to go out. I smiled in spite of myself. I do enjoy crab. We walked over to the visitor center and while looking at maps, overheard the woman there talking about the impact of the oil spill on her community. The crab fishermen are mostly union, so in an act of solidarity, the Bodega Bay fishermen agreed not to go out until the San Francisco fishermen can go out.

What this all means is that people who work really hard for a living are going to have a lot harder time this year making ends meet. At Christmastime no less. All because one guy had a really bad day at work (also a hard job. I don’t imagine steering a boat that big is any easy peasy thing to do) on a really foggy day.

On the way home from our trip to Bodega Bay, we drove down by Ocean Beach and saw people in hazmat suits cleaning up the mess. It really brought it right home to me. This was no longer something I saw on the news. This was real people with real issues fighting the good fight for real aquatic life in the area in which I live.

I have tried to find an exact number of birds they think were contaminated and can’t find a solid answer. Reports say some 20,000 have died. Many more have been cleaned up and some released back into the wild. Those numbers of the dead may be low because it’s hard to know how many were eaten by predators or sunk in the water. If eaten, the cycle of contamination continues.

Also, the tide surges can send the oil back to beaches that have been cleaned causing them to need to be re-cleaned again and again.

There are no two ways about it. This was a disaster. Not so large (on the Valdez scale) to garner much national coverage (tho my friend over at Live from Silver City, a resident of Washington DC mentioned it in his blog). But no less an environmental crisis. And a huge impact to the thriving fishing community of the Bay Area.

Latest salvo was that fishermen from Oregon brought in crabs to sell, but were soundly rejected. I also stand behind my local fisherman. And it pains me, but I’ve decided to stop eating any crab at restaurants until I hear that the local guys can sell their catch. It’s one of my favorite foods (I have it probably once a week) and crabs come from all over, but it’s my own personal act of solidarity.

As for me, I’d actually planned a trek to Half Moon Bay this year for annual crab feast. I’ll be watching the news and various sites to see if it’s safe. Fishermen haven’t gone out yet to set their pots, and I’d like to think there will be some testing for safety before the catch is sold.

It’s just a sad thing. One mistake with wide ranging effects.

image via