Now, I understand that there are shipping issues from time to time, however, Amazon shipped these USPS instead of via OnTrac or UPS (their normal M/O for Prime members). The USPS site says 2-3 day for priority this seems like a #Fail right away. Secondly, I do not understand why Amazon doesn’t have exception tracking in their system. They are completely aware of the shipping state, the location, and order numbers – I just went and looked on my “orders page.” It seems like a key missing feature for Prime (or even regular members) is that when your order exceeds the estimated arrival date Amazon would PROACTIVELY contact you with either a new ETA. This is honestly the first time I’ve had an issue with Prime and I whole heartedly believe it is because they picked to use USPS instead of OnTrac or UPS (upon searching on Google this does seem to be a trend for Amazon when they use the USPS for Prime members).

I’ll post an update if/when the package ever arrives – its apparently still in AZ and has been for the last 2 days after it left the Ohio shipping location.

Oh yeah you can also do something like “hijack the system audio” open your terminal window and echo "Get up and make me coffee sylvia" | say -v "Zarvox" Which is always a fun one on Sunday morning! Anyway, go check AirFoil out, at $25 its a steal – its like Sonos without the $1000 investment in hardware!

Town Car

Uber cab thats what. The cab situation in San Francisco could not be worse. Obnoxious drivers that refuse service thats part of the taxi laws (two stops is a law mother fucker), drivers that don’t listen to where I’m asking to go to and take me (I said 1st and clementina not 1st and Clement), and just the disgustingness of the cab has driven me to pay the premium that is Uber. GPS tracking, instant knowledge that a cab is coming to get you in usually less than 10 minutes, and general courtesy makes Uber the best way to travel even if its 1.7x a cab ride. I hope the taxi cab commission is hearing loud and clear that the public does not want to put up with the current cab situation in San Francisco. Uber is the perfect example of a disruptive service and I’m going to happily continue to pay the premium if only to take business from the traditional cab services. And did I mention its usually a Benz or Lincoln Town car that gets you?

running route

I’ve been going to the gym religiously for the last two+ years but only in the 2 months have I been running instead of doing the elliptical machine. Oddly, (or maybe not so oddly) all the days of running in soccer practice and for track in high school had put me off to running for myself.

I, however, discovered that going for a run outside is infinitely more rewarding than ellipticalling in place for 40 minutes with an iphone. Jogging down the Embarcadaro in San Francisco is something I highly recommend if you live here or just here for a visit. If its a clear day you’ll get to see clear across the bay to to Oakland and at night the view as you jog south is stunning with the skyline of San Francisco lit up. Go outside and take a jog! Its rewarding.

The show has also substantially changed since I saw it as a child/teenager. The special effects were out in full force today with a huge LCD(?) display, faux 3d effects, and lots of film rolling. I think the show has lost a step by incorporating all this jazz. The ending however was the traditional nativity scene and instantly brought me back to my childhood. All in all a good afternoon done up CA style – we had mexican food before the show instead of katz or something genuinely NY.

The killer feature that it provides, and that I admit I was quite skeptical about, is that it doesn’t even attempt to replace my TiVO/DVR it simply compliments it. A major issue I have had with my AppleTV, XMBC, and HTPC is that I had to change the inputs to between devices and thats just plain annoying when you want to check to see if a movie is on iTunes or you want to stream something from YouTube real fast.  The simple overlay just works for me.

I have really high expectations for GoogleTV – I feel like its what WMC would have been for me if I had ever bought a cablecard card for my HTPC. Alas I’m not going to spend $399 on an experiment though so GoogleTV it is.

Last night we went to Anchor and Hope for the 4th time in the last year and a half. As usual it didn’t disappoint. I’ve been really spoiled in the last 3 weeks getting to have sea urchin two times, once at Kushi in DC and a second time last night at Anchor and Hope. Last night’s was absolutely sublime heated ever so lightly and tasted of the sea. The urchin topped dungeness crab with a beurre blanc sauce and light mashed potatoes in the bottom of the cup. As an entree I got scallops paired with chestnuts and pomegranate  seeds. The texture difference between the scallops and rougher texture of the chestnuts worked perfectly. I felt like the pomegranate seeds were just “there” though. This was a perfectly seasonal dish though highlighted by the nuttiness of the chestnuts (I’m a sucker for anything with chestnuts in it though).

On saturday we decided to get a french press at Sur La Table to free up some counter space and reduce the amount of coffee we were drinking – we were previously making 8-10 cups in an automatic machine everyday. So far I’m enjoying the ritual of grinding the coffee and boiling the water but I am missing the magic that is a timer and waking up to a steaming cup of coffee (that may or may not be of quality) depending who you ask.