Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

Scrubbing Bubbles

OK, by request, here is video of our Scooba robot floor cleaner.

Yea, it's pretty noisy. We run it when we're going out or we close the door when we're home. I put my finger over the microphone in the camera at some point so the sound changes. I must figure out where on the camera that is because I keep doing it and screwing up the sound on my videos.

Since they don't sell these in the U.K. (yet) we brought two Roombas and one Scooba from our home in California. Our suitcase was very heavy.

There it is scrubbing the guest suite living room, where we give all the concerts and parties. Our floors have never been cleaner!

A Girl and Her Dog

No, this isn't about London but it is about what I'm doing while I'm in London, hahaha.

Now that I'm finished building the Magnatune and BookMooch spaces on Second Life I have time to just play around again. Although I hate shopping in real life, on Second Life I really enjoy it.

Today I bought a dog! No, not a real dog, a Second Life dog.

It is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. First, you name it. I named it "Bennie" in honor of my favorite cat who died in 1995 (yea I'm mushie like that).

The dog responds to chat commands, so you type "Bennie sit" and he sits. He comes when you call him, shakes hands, rolls over and does many funny and adorable things. You can also train him with macros to do things like go to his little dog house and stay here. Then when someone comes to our SL space, he comes out to greet them.

As silly as it sounds, and I know none of it is real, when Bennie comes running over and does his tricks and follows me around, it gives my heartstrings a little tug. He's a hell of a lot more fun than that robot cat.

Two Cats and a Chicken

Our first full day in London!

The house is warm now. It took a long time to heat up, the bedroom is still chilly because the radiator in there doesn't work right (plumber coming to take a look, hopefully). I turned on the heating in the floors to give the main area a heating kick start and I think it make a difference. I turned it off this morning because heated floors are a complete waste of electricity but they did the trick while they were on.

Our house in London is so completely different than our house in Berkeley, it's always a pleasant surprise when we get here. For one thing, we have different animals here.

In the photos you will see the cat puppet our friend Mary gave me, which sits on one of the speakers in my office. Then there is the toy chicken John bought at Le Bon Marche on our last trip to Paris. It is so cute and made us laugh so John couldn't resist buying it. I named it Dijonette. I pick it up and declare, "Oooooo, je m'appelle Dijonette!" Yea, we're silly.

Then there is the robot cat I bought in December and brought with me to London this trip to keep me company. It doesn't really and, frankly, it's kind of creepy. But I miss Clyde so much I'm desperate.

We also brought some robot cleaners with us so, by request, I will be including video on the blog of the robot cleaning the house so stay tuned.

Some Curry on the Plane

We're back in London.

It's cold. Of course we keep the heat off when we're not here because it would be wasteful to do otherwise. But when we got home it was 53 outside and 51 inside the house. Brrrrr. I turned on the heat immediately and 2 hours later it's still pretty cold but slowly improving. The heating system kinda sucks but it is what it is.

When we arrived at the airport in San Francisco I noticed Adam Curry checking in ahead of us. Since he has played Magnatune music on his podcast (or, at least, we know he's aware of Magnatune), I introduced myself to him in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. He talked with us for a while about Magnatune, podcasting, etc. He was really nice.

The flight itself was one of the easier ones: no screaming toddlers, no rich old ladies spraying themselves with perfume, no babbling businessmen. It was very quiet and we slept most of the flight.

And, for the first time, when we arrived at Heathrow we went through the Iris system instead of waiting in line with our passports. We had registered for it in December when we left London and were eager to try it out. It worked. It took literally 30 seconds to go through immigration. We just looked into the machine, it scanned our eyes to identify us, the doors opened and we were done. Amazing. It's like living in the future.

Now if we had some heat in the house...

Back to London Again

We're flying to London today!

It has been a great two months in California. We really enjoyed being able to spend time with all our friends and go to our favorite restaurants. It was a fun-filled stay. And I'm really going to miss Clyde, sigh.

See you in London on Sunday!

Our (Second) Life

We're in California for just one more day continues...

Our Magnatune space in Second Life is now ready!

To visit us, log into Second Life and search for "Magnatune." If you don't have a Second Life account it's free so come on in to an amazing virtual world.

As you walk around the space, classical music plays but changes to a different genre as you walk onto the various genre platforms. Sit, relax, listen, chat with your friends. The views are lovely. Also, setting the lighting to "midnight" is particuarly cool.

I also created a small space for BookMooch. It's a garden with benches for visitors to sit and discuss their favorite books or... whatever they feel like talking about. It's also a way to meet other BookMooch members. Magnatune classical music is playing there too.

I'm sure I'll be changing, redesigning, enhancing the spaces as I come up with ideas and also learn more about Second Life. It was a challenging project and creating these spaces was some of the most fun I've ever had.

I hope to see some of my friends there; stop by and say hello. And don't forget to take a copy of the free Magnatune and BookMooch t-shirts.

Enjoy!

An Evening with Beth and Bobby

We're in California for a few more days continues...

Last night we went to a concert at Zellerbach Auditorium by Bobby McFerrin because our friend (and Magnatune artist) Beth Quist was performing with him in his Voicestra.

John had seen Bobby McFerrin perform before but I had not and I was astonished. It is rare to see that level of musical genius on stage, he is incredible. The Voicestra is also fabulous and it was very exciting to see and hear Beth perform.

Afterward we went back to the green room to say hi to Beth and for me to get my photo op. You know me, I always ask for photos for the blog. Bobby was not backstage so we didn't get to meet him which is fine because we were happy just to be there and to see Beth.

We're having lunch with her today so we'll have a chance to catch up since we last saw her in Las Vegas in August. She is one of the most talented and nicest people we've ever met.

Spin Me Round

We're in California for just one more week continues...

Here is a video of the revolving sculpture we bought on our recent brief vacation in Santa Barbara. I don't know the name of the artist. He put us on his mailing list so hopefully we'll get something from him so we'll know who he is.

Today is a little windy so the sculpture is revolving nicely. I've never taken video with our digital camera before or embedded video into the blog, so this is a first.

Wow, it worked!

Technology Transition

We're in California for a while continues...

But for only one more week. Next Saturday we fly to London, yay!

Technology is evolving so quickly that it's hard to keep up.

But it's inevitable that every few years it's time for a new computer. They keep getting faster, with more memory and more disc storage. I was doing fine on my Apple G5 from a couple years ago until I went on Second Life. I discovered that my graphics card did not have enough memory to handle it and it made moving around Second Life difficult at best, and sometimes impossible.

We tried to upgrade just my graphics card but the variations in design of the slots of the G5 made finding the right card difficult. So we decided it was time to upgrade me to a new computer. John bought us each an iMac with 24" screen. It's an incredible machine. Second Life looks amazing. Now I can see how all the work I did on the Magnatune Second Life space really looks. It's really really fun.

The photo shows my desk with the two computers on (and under) it while I transition my software and data to the new one. It's a complicated and tedious process that is much harder than it should be. Since the iMac does Windows as well as Mac, I will be moving all the stuff off my ancient, useless Windows machine onto it. There is only one program that I use that is Windows only and that's because John and I created it years ago. Otherwise, we're Mac full-time and love it.

In theory, we have a super duper graphics card coming which we'll take to London to upgrade my G5 there. If that doesn't work then I guess we're going to have to get an iMac there as well. I'm not looking forward to having to go through another technology transition but if it makes flying around Second Life easier then you bet I'll do it.

If you want to see my space at Second Life just type "Magnatune" into the search and teleport. Be sure to take a free t-shirt. Sit, relax, listen to music, chat with your friends. I really love it there.

Los Angeles to Berkeley, The Drive

We're in California for a while continues...

Today we drove from Los Angeles to Berkeley, California. It took 6-1/2 hours. It should have taken less but there was snow and ice on Route 5 outside Los Angeles and traffic was bumper to bumper going 20 mph led by a police car with its lights flashing, adding an extra hour to our trip. It was pointless and frustrating, especially when our you're nearly out of gas light came on. We drove through clouds of sand they had dumped on the highway which at that point was the only hazzard, since there was no longer any ice.

It's nice to be home. My new iMac arrived so now I can visit Second Life and actually see what it's supposed to look like. It's fabulous.

The Warm Crab Salad

We're in California for a while continues...

Our vacation in Los Angeles:

Today was the reason we came to L.A.: John's presentation. In the morning we went to a gigantic mall to the Apple Store to buy a remote control for his Keynote slide presentation. I had made a reservation at The Ivy for lunch and we were pleased to discover it was walkable from the mall. Not much in L.A. is walkable.

While waiting for The Ivy to open we walked around the neighborhood a bit. Some amazing clothing stores that sold clothes that were so gorgeous, so elaborate, that I can't think of an occasion to wear them. Sigh.

We made our way back to The Ivy, which was described as popular with celebrities in spite of its bad service. Hmm, ok. Well, there were no celebrities but the service was excellent. Goes to show you can't believe everything you read on the web.

Next to us was a beautiful woman named "Amber" who was lunching with a friend. She was so beautiful that it was obvious that she had been assisted in defying whatever nature had actually given her. None of it looked fake, it just didn't look real.

She was a hoot. She sent back everything. Everything. First she sent back her champagne because it had raspberry juice in it, instead of actual raspberries. They brought her champagne with raspberries in it. Then she sent back her crab. This is what she said:

Amber: "This crab isn't cold. I like my crab to be cold."

Waiter: "Sometimes it's warm because we cook it fresh."

Amber: "I don't know if it's fresh if it's not cold."

The waiter takes away the crab. He returns to inform Amber it will take a few minutes because they are putting the crab on ice to chill it.

Amber: "Not the crab I just returned to you, I hope!"

Waiter: "Oh no, it will be fresh."

Jan's thoughts: Get a clue lady. It's already fresh crab, they just cooked it. And why shouldn't they put the crab that you just sent back that had one bite taken out of it, on ice and re-serve it to you? It's certainly what you deserve. BTW, you've had so much botox you're not going to be able to taste it anyway so what difference does it make?

Hilarious!

Yes, that is a photo of the bathroom at The Ivy. Considering how many celebrities have peed in there (or worse), I just had to take a photo. Wow, I sat on the same seat as... whoever. It's just funny. And more than a little weird.

After lunch we returned to the hotel for John to put the finishing touches on his presentation. Then we drove across L.A. to the USC Film School. It was quite amazing to be there, with the George Lucas connection and the building named after Robert Zemekis. The school is doing a lot of cool stuff and we were very impressed. John's presentation went really well and the students were enthusiastic and appreciative.

They did a really interesting thing during John's presentation that I've never seen anywhere else: they all did instant messaging with each other that was projected on a screen for all to see. It was really interesting.

After John's presentation we went back to the hotel for another stunning dinner at Asia de Cuba. I was very very bad. Yes, I had dessert. Whatever. I can starve myself when we get back to Berkeley. I only have a week to get thin for London so I think I'll be living on sparkling water and clementines oranges. Yummy.

Tomorrow we return home to Berkeley. And thanks to the bastards at United Airlines we're driving. We had a nice time in L.A. but it will be great to get back home.

Disneyland Day 2

We're in California for a while continues...

More of our vacation in Los Angeles:

We went back to Disneyland today since it was too crowded yesterday. Today it was perfect and we could easily get onto every ride, except the safari boat cruise, strangely.

Unfortunately, they've ruined our favorite ride, "Space Mountain." It's still a roller coaster in the dark but it's not completely dark anymore. They've made it a "rockin'" roller coaster with music by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (I never thought of their music as family-oriented but I guess the Disneyland marketing department thinks otherwise.) Anyway, Space Mountain now has a lot of flashing colored lights which illuminate the track so you can see what is coming next. The fun of Space Mountain was the darkness and the surprise motion. It's still great fun, it's just not as fun as it used to be.

We went to "It's A Small World" and were delighted that their xmas decorations were still up because we'd never seen that before. The interior is completely decorated and it's wonderful. The children sitting behind us were having the absolute time of their lives which I thought was adorable. We don't usually think children are adorable but hearing these toddlers sing along with all the xmas songs and laugh in delight at the various international characters was really sweet.

And, of course, our favorite of all time: The Muppets 3D, at California Adventure. We've seen it a dozen times and it's still hilarious, we love it.

We had a late lunch and then a surprisingly easy drive back to L.A. Dinner again tonight in the hotel's amazing restaurant, Asia de Cuba. Like most restaurants in L.A., their portions are crazy huge. Considering the number of anorexic actresses in Hollywood I don't understand why the portions in most restaurants are so huge. Tonight, lesson learned, we're ordering less food.

I dread weighing myself when I get home because the last time we were in L.A. I reached my all-time high weight, which was the event that caused me to go on the diet where I lost 20 lbs. Hopefully I didn't gain that 20 lbs. back on this trip. Maybe I'll just drink my dinner. Perhaps something pink...

Buzzed

We're in California or a while continues...

Our Los Angeles vacation:

Since we unexpectedly came to Los Angeles earlier than we had originally planned, we have 3 days to fill. Although we got some excellent L.A. recommendations from our friend Cindy, John thought it would be fun to go to Disneyland today. So we did.

It was a really easy drive. However, it being a holiday today made for chaos at Disneyland, it was insanely crowded. We did manage to go on a few of our favorites: Star Tours, Soarin' Over California and Buzz Lightyear. We never noticed, or maybe they just started doing it, that they have a photo of you after you finish the Buzz Lightyear ride and they email it to you for free. That is so cute. So when we got back to our hotel there it was waiting.

We decided Disneyland was too crowded today so we had lunch and fled. We're going to go back tomorrow when things should be calmer. On the way back to L.A. we stopped at a movie complex because I've been wanting to see Children of Men. It was not what we were expecting, we thought a film about the future would be science fiction. But it is a wonderful film: an astonishing futurist vision, shocking, believable and heartbreaking.

Now we're back at the hotel and have a reservation for an undoubtedly extraordinary dinner in their amazing restaurant, Asia de Cuba.

The Heatless Escape

We're in California for a while continues...

We're in Los Angeles now; our vacation in Santa Barbara didn't work out.

This morning we woke up and it was freezing cold. Literally freezing. We had turned the heat off during the night because it was very loud and also it heated up the bedroom too much. When we turned the heat back on this morning, something broke (again) and filled the cabin with a horrible burning chemical smell. We opened the door and all the windows to get the smell out, making the cabin even colder. Then we turned on the tiny gas stove/heater to get as much heat as we could but it was not as good as having real heating. Also, no internet last night and none this morning. It was working yesterday afternoon and then stopped. Sigh.

Considering that the campground was not what we expected and the heat was broken again, we decided to leave. We called the hotel in Los Angeles and they said it was fine to arrive today. So we packed and off we went. The campground gave us a little bit of a hard time because we were not staying until Wednesday, as planned, but after expressing our displeasure at the broken heat and chemical smell they relented.

After our escape from the campground, we spent the day in Santa Barbara to see what is was like. It's kind of a dud. It's a very pretty, obviously wealthy, city. But we were surprised by the number of homeless and street people, many of whom were disturbingly aggressive. The shopping was extensive but consisted of stores like Restoration Hardware and Banana Republic, so it's nothing special that you can't get in any other city. The few independent shops were boutiques of women's clothes that looked like they were designed by Project Runway contestants who were rejected early in the season.

We walked down the main street all the way to the beach which was lovely. Apparently there is a weekend arts show and we were delighted to buy two wonderful pieces of art for our garden. The ceramic and glass smiling fish (photo coming soon) are hilarious and the artist was really interesting and fun.

Then we drove to Los Angeles.

Once again, the landscape was spectacular and I took many many photos. We arrived at Mondrian and are ecstatic. It is just the kind of hotel we like. Gorgeous. We ordered room service from their amazing restaurant, with pink champagne (surprise).

Oh, and this hotel has a hair dryer in the bathroom so I got to wash my hair. Now that's a happy ending.

Unhappy Campers

We're in Califormia for a while continues...

We're on vacation in Santa Barbara.

We drove. From San Francisco to Santa Barbara. That's really not such a big deal but we were supposed to fly. The reason we had to drive is a big deal. Basically, United Airlines sucks. Here's what happened:

When we arrived at San Francisco Airport we discovered our flight to Santa Barbara was cancelled. That has never happened to us before. We tried to find a customer service area or ticket agent to see if we could get on another flight. No. There were several very, very long lines of people checking in. As we were pondering what to do or where to go we were approached by an airline employee who asked if she could help us. Yay, someone to help. Not. We said we needed to get onto the earlier flight since ours was cancelled. She was very rude, not helpful and pointed to one of the long lines and told us to get in it. There was no way we could go through both that long line, then through the long security line, in a half hour to make the earlier flight. Or, we would have gone through the line and they could put us on a flight later in the day and we would have ended up having to wait at the airport for who knows how many hours.

The bad behavior of United Airlines gets even worse: When we arrived in Santa Barbara we checked our voice mail at home which had a message from United Airlines. Well, it was a computer saying it was United Airlines. It was not an actual person who called. They called to let us know our flight was cancelled and we were booked on another flight. At 10:10. They called at 8:46. Outrageous. We had already left the house at 8:30 to make the 11:00 flight we were originally schedule to take and therefore missed the phone call. But that doesn't really matter because even if we had gotten the phone call, it is not humanly possible to leave the house at 8:46 and make it to a 10:10 flight. They obviously knew that but called anyway so they wouldn't have to give any refunds. They're incompetent or clever or just greedy or all of those things.

So, after deciding United Airline sucks we decided to drive to Santa Barbara and got back in our car.

However, as we left the airport parking lot the oil indicator on our car turned on. Although it didn't stay on, it came back a couple times more which was worrying. So, after a stop at Starbucks to soothe our nerves after our nasty airport experience, we found a gas station, bought some oil, and put it in the car. Problem solved.

It ended up being a lovely drive. The landscape from San Francisco to Santa Barbara is spectacular. After a few hours and stopping for lunch (burgers) we finally arrived at our vacation destination: El Capitan Canyon. Oh dear. Their web site makes it look like an elegant resort with a camping motif. No, it's camping with illusions of being a resort that do not deliver. Their "the best we have" cabin is hilarious. It looks like it was made from a kit sold at Ikea (if Ikea sold cabin kits). The heating was broken so they had to come fix it. The furniture is beyond minimal; it's two fabric somewhat comfy chairs. No sofa. There is no dining table and chairs but there is an empty space for some. No hair dryer in the bathroom. There were screaming children running around the field outside the cabin all afternoon.

Franky, I think both their web site and brochure are very deceptive (aren't all marketing materials?). I can't believe they call it a resort. It is a camp ground. And it's cheesy.

This isn't what we had in mind so John called the hotel in Los Angeles to move our reservation up to Monday and we'll go to Los Angeles earlier than we had planned. At least we know the hotel there is going to be posh (fingers crossed). We'll just hang out here and enjoy the alleged peace and quiet for another day.

We did have an amazing dinner in Santa Barbara this evening at The Sage and Onion. A happy ending to a nasty day. With pink champagne.

The Virtual Violin

We're in California for a while continues...

Yes, the blog has been slow. Not much is going on right now.

We are flying to Santa Barbara on Saturday for a few days just to get away for a change of scene. Then a quick trip to Los Angeles where John is presenting. We'll be back Thursday. I don't know what kind of internet access I'll have at the hotel in Santa Barbara. I suspect I will have none, so the blog will probably be quiet until we get back.

The Magnatune space at Second Life is nearly ready.

Yesterday, a couple SL friends dropped by. One of them had a virtual violin that plays real music. It was really beautiful. Then my real life friend Sarah popped in to say hi and brought a friend of hers along. One of my SL friends started belly dancing to the music and it was hilarious. Then a couple complete strangers wandered by and hung out with us listening to the music. It makes me think the space is going to catch on. I might need to buy more chairs.

Skywalking

We're in California for a while continues...

Yesterday, we went to Skywalker Sound in Marin, California to attend a recording session by violinist, Lara St. John, who had invited us.

First of all, the drive there was really beautiful as you can see by the photos. Then we arrived at the security gate at Skywalker Ranch. OMG, Skywalker Ranch! Our names being on the entry list was definitely a surreal moment. The guard gave us a security pass for our car and a little map showing us how to get to the recording studio. The grounds of the ranch are gorgeous.

We drove too far and accidentally entered the restricted area where George Lucas' house is. At least, it looked like a giant house so I'm assuming that's where he lives but I could be wrong. Anyway, that's as close to George Lucas as we're ever going to get '-) I resisted the urge to knock on the door and play stupid, "Oh sorry, George, I thought this was the recording studio." Instead, we immediately turned around and then went to Skywalker Studio (see photo) which we had just passed.

When we entered the building we could hear Lara playing and the recording light was illuminated so we carefully found our way to the engineering booth and had a seat (see photo). During a brief break we went into the actual studio and had a seat with the other guests. This particular studio was the "scoring stage" where they score films. Yes, those films. Oh. My. God. I was verklempt.

Lara recorded for about another hour. She is an incredible musician. She played the pieces straight through without stopping. I have never heard such a perfect performance, with no mistakes at all. She's amazing. I have to say that as wonderful as cd's are there is nothing like a live performance, particularly with classical music.

After the recording session we all went to "The Inn" on the Skywalker Ranch for a little party to celebrate. The building was beautiful, as was everything at Skywalker. (George, or whoever he hired to create this place, has great taste.) At the party we met Martha de Francisco, the producer for the recording, who has produced dozens of legendary classical recordings that we have on our shelves. Yea, I was verklempt again. She was wonderfully modest, interesting and fun.

BTW, Lara has one recording on Magnatune and we plan to also have the one she recorded today (for her own independent label) which should be ready in a few months. We're really looking forward to it.

Under Construction

We're in California for a while continues...

Well I got some space on an island in Second Life for Magnatune. The owner of the island kindly allowed us to build there.

Building is really complicated and difficult but enjoyable and rewarding. I think that scripting is beyond my abilities so I'm hunting for free modifiable scripts or someone to assist me with that part.

I have an idea in my head for how the Magnatune space should be, with different buildings/modules for each music genre where people can listen to a live music stream. I just need to figure it all out.

So far, I've met some incredibly talented and nice people on Second Life. It's not without its problems; there are definitely some rude and creepy people there, just like in Real Life. But I've met very few of those so I have a collection of amazing friends, some of whom are friends in Real Life as well.

The Cleaning Robot

We're in California for a while continues...

John surprise xmas present arrived today: the iRobot Roomba Vacuuming Robot. We're still waiting for the floor washing robot.

Well, it was amazing. We turned it on and it started cleaning the whole first floor of the house. There in the photo you can see Clyde, who was not too happy about the robot. He didn't freak out immediately but eventually asked to be put outside which I was happy to do.

The robot gets into small places and then goes back to make sure it got everything. It was amazing. Look at the two photos of under the dining table, before and after. You can see the path the robot took and picked up the dust bunnies. Then it came back and picked up the rest of the dust bunnies. It even found its way into the coat closet and it goes under the sofas.

When it was finished it returned to its charger and turned itself off. Incredible.

Another New Year

We're in California for a while continues...

Like most people, I find it hard to believe it's 2007 already. We're well into the 21st century and sometimes it does feel like I'm living in the future I dreamed of in my childhood.

John and I both dislike noisy, crowded New Year's eve festivities so we had a quiet evening. We went out to dinner with our friends and neighbors, Bob and Teresa, at Venus which was serving a special menu. It was delicious.

Earlier in the day I had celebrated New Year's Eve with my British friends on Second Life. Now we sometimes conference call each other with Skype so we can actually all talk together in real life while we are on Second Life. The effect is hilarious and incredibly fun.

There we all are, dancing in the new year. It's hilarious that it reached midnight in England while I was dancing with my friends on Second Life and it was still afternoon here in Berkeley. Then I got to experience new year's eve again here in California. Of course, here in Berkeley I was sleeping at midnight rather than dancing '-)

New Year's is when I think about my life and how lucky I am. In particular, I think about all the amazing people I met and new friends I made in the last year, making life even more interesting and fun. Happy New Year, everyone!