hp's blog

Lemon-Pepper Potato Salad

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:23:24 -0700

We've had a few warm days here in Seattle, inevitably followed it seems by unseasonably cold weather (it was in the 30's this morning when I got up.)

But, things are "warming up" over at the Ward Street Bistro. This week's post is Lemon-Pepper Potato Salad, a favorite of ours with grilled meat or poultry.

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Opera's man of the hour

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:09:47 -0700

Florez

Ladies and gentleman, I given you Juan Diego Flórez and his phenomenal high C's.

More about the performance (and his encore) here.

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Reasons I love Drake...

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:10:13 -0700

He's funny

He's intellectual

He grills a mean steak.

There are more reasons, but that's all I have pictures for right now. :-)

Photos are from our recent visit to the Orcas House.

And, Chris, if you're reading this post, the sweater in the second picture is the one I knitted with your beautiful Donegal Tweed Yarn. I'll post a full picture of it when it's 100% finished and blocked. I had a devil of a time getting the crochet loop trim right! It was tricky business to get the correct tension on it, so it didn't stretch out or pinch in the sweater. Now all I've got left is trimming one cuff! Yay.

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What's up with Six Apart?

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:40:58 -0700

First, this post yesterday from Techcrunch: Who Did Six Apart Acquire?

Then this in my RSS feed, but then the actual post is nowhere to be found Team Vox blog:

Exciting news?

I've got two Typepad blogs, so if something new is up for their "paying customers" I'm all ears.

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Pasta with Cauliflower

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:47:41 -0700

Mmmm... one of our favorites

Continuing with the pasta theme, my latest post over at the Ward Street Bistro is Pasta with Cauliflower.

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Well, just never mind then...

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:15:39 -0700

Message #1:
An exciting offer just for Seattle Symphony Subscribers!

Symphony giveth

Immediately followed by Message #2:
"Tickets would recall the message: A Special Offer from Seattle Symphony"

Symphony taketh away

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A mighty wind...

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:00:08 -0700

One of the most interesting things I get to do in my job is observational research.

There are, however, a lot of variables in a study, lots of things (small and large) that can go wrong:

The study design may not be effectively addressing the research questions (in which case you need to revise the study mid-stream)
The participants may not match the defined profile (either because the participant fudged their profile or the recruiter did, or there was a problem with the screening method)
Even when the above are in line, the client may have second-thoughts about details of the study once it's underway
Despite reminder emails, participants may not show up or cancel at the last minute.
The participant may be particularly difficult to draw out or may talk incessantly about issues unrelated to the study.
There may be technical problems with recording equipment or the system that is being observed.

Over the years, I've developed various little techniques to help mitigate these risks or at least contend with them when they occur. But there are always new and exciting things to go wrong!

In my most recent study, the offending piece of equipment was an inappropriately powerful air conditioner blower that is installed in our tiniest conference room (the room I was using for research conducted via web conferencing software). The blower had, in theory, been set permanently to off, because when it's on, it's much like being in the proximity of a small jet engine. I've conducted many studies from this conference room and never heard even a peep from the dreaded air conditioner vent. Until...

I started my very first session for a new study this week. The participant called in and, as if on queue, the blower went off full-boar. Literally, the phone rang and the blower started. So I am trying to hear and talk to the participant, with my ear up against the speaker-phone while my hair and papers are all blowing around. Long story short, I wound up doing the whole 1-hour session that way, barely being able to hear a thing. A colleague of mine tried everything he could to shut the thing off (building management was in theory 'on their way'), including physically taking apart the themostat. Yet, the blower just kept on a-blowing.

It might have been funny except the participant was an important customer of my client's--a department head at a major-city children's hospital. So I was desperate to make a good impression. He was actually quite gracious and we did get good data out of the session, but what a nightmare. Because of the web-conferencing set-up, it wasn't practical to re-locate for the session. So I just had to grit it out. By the end of the session not only was I wind-blown, but I was freezing to death because in the hour that the air conditioning was blasting, the temperature must have dropped to 50 degrees!

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Pasta 101

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:11:22 -0700

Pasta!

Over at the Ward Street Bistro, my most recent post is all about cooking pasta. I love pasta with garlic so much that even looking at this photo is making me salivate! Of course, it is almost dinner time...

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The Orcas House

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:58:10 -0700

This past weekend, Drake and I visited one of our favorite places in the world -- a house we first rented in 1985! A perfect place to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

The journey begins with a ferry ride from Anacortes, WA...

WA State Ferry

On the island, the house is literally at the end of the road...

Private, yeah.

Drake's first task in getting to the house was to do a little window washing. He's a bit of a fiend for clean windows...

Yes, he does windows...

...including this innovative rinse technique

But, for these views, it's worth it to have clean windows...

View

There are stairs down to the water..

Stairs

Early in the morning down by the water, you are treated to views like this...

a.m.

Hanging out on the rocks by the water is a great place to take pictures of your honey...

Drake

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The scar - 5 months

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:18:22 -0700

It started like this:

:-(

Now, after 5 months, it looks like this:

Now

Better, yes. But I still have an obvious scar, normally mostly hidden under the bangs I had cut shortly after the surgery.

I had a consultation with a plastic surgeon this morning. He didn't want to upset me, but he was clearly mystified as to why I had a vertical forehead incision. It should have been done horizontally. Really, I have come to live with the scar and not think too much about it. But after I went to a new dermatologist about another suspicious spot on my forehead, my new doc suggested I have a consultation with a plastic surgeon. I could tell my new dermatologist was also, er, surprised about the vertical incision.

One option that is open to me is scar revision surgery, which would involve a z-plasty. The plastic surgeon was honest with me, that I would still have a scar. With the z-plasty it will be a longer scar, but, with the right outcome, it would be less noticeable.

He suggested I wait three months and see how it looks then. It's still considered a relatively new scar. He took a photo of it. He did leave me with a bit of hope--as the very last thing he said was "I'd be very confident doing a z-plasty on you." That made me feel better. He had been more muted on the option for most of the appointment. Like it might be re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. (Well, not that bad, but you get the idea... that it might not give me the level of improvement I'd be looking for.)

He also suggested in the near-term, I could try some Restylane injections to kind of puff it out a bit. I'm mulling that over. I am inclined to just leave it alone for now and see where it is at after 3 more months.

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