Ann Arbor, Day 4
Beau dropped us at the airport on his way to a client meeting. Interesting stories about his book publisher and one large client.

More plane flights and layovers with podcasts to pass the time. Maria and I returned safely to the redwood forest. Back to the shadows again.
Prep - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Photos 

---

Ann Arbor, Day 3
Visited the Dexter Cider Mill again for chocolate samples. Bought turtles and toffee. Walked Beau and Deb's property, about 5 acres.

Joined Jack, Cathy, Mrs. B, and Alex in Borders original bookstore. Walked around central campus, starting at The Cube, into the Michigan Union, through multiple floors and one ballroom, then down South University. Depressing changes to all the stores on South U. What a wasteland.

Would have been nice to get back into the steam tunnels. We spent some fun hours underground back in the day.

Drive to see 1700 Geddes, Albert Terrace, where C-25 was our little castle during the last 2 years I was at the U of M. Swung past Mary Markley Hall where Jack and I started college together. Drove past the hospital area and heard some horror stories about the current construction. Cruise through some great neighborhoods at the south end of campus and exited by the Stadium.

Back to Dexter so Beau and Deb could mark locations for the tree movers. Pasta and steak with the last of the garden tomatoes for dinner along with more great wine. Interesting stories of Yuri's original trip to the U.S. and saw pictures from Beau and Deb's trip to visit him in the Ukraine.
Prep - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Photos 

---

Ann Arbor, Day 2
Drive from Dexter into Ann Arbor. Walk partial circuit around University of Michigan central campus with Debi while Beau was getting haircut. Ended at Ulrich's Bookstore to buy shot glass, jacket, shirts. Rain started as we walked back through the Diag. Visited the Dexter Cider Mill for cider, apple turnovers, and donuts. DCM is the oldest continuously operating cider mill in Michigan. Drive back to the house along the Huron river.

Jack, Cathy, Mrs. B., and Alex came over about 4:00. (Of the four roommates, only John was not able to make it in for the weekend.) Sampled wonderful cheese and great wine while watching part of the Michigan vs. Purdue game. Steak dinner and more great wine.

Off to Hill Auditorium for Band-o-rama. Stayed for the concert band and symphony band. Maria and I left with Beau and Deb for drinks at The Earle Restaurant across the street before the marching band. After the concert, met the B's at Weber's Inn. Talked around the pool until it closed at midnight, then crashed in the lobby until after 1:00.
Prep - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Photos 

---

Ann Arbor, Day 1
Maria and I left for Ann Arbor, back to the University of Michigan, for my 30th reunion of some college roommates. Spent much of the day flying and sitting in airports, listening to podcasts.

Arrived at Beau and Deb's in Dexter, next door to Ann Arbor, around dinner time. Met poor skunk-sprayed German Shepard Gina, and cats Jaspers and Duke. House tour, great wine, followed by dinner at D'Amato's Restaurant.
Prep - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Photos 

---

Ann Arbor Prep
Loaded up on podcasting material for the California to Michigan trip. Just as I did for the Gnomedex trip, I grabbed Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, Dave Winer's Morning Coffee Notes, Adam and Dave's Trade Secrets, Dave Slusher's Evil Genius Chronicles, and multiple shows from IT Conversations.

For some reason I can't listen to Dawn and Drew, and several of the Engadget shows, because they play on my Dell DJ at half speed. Maybe I'll troubleshoot after I get back. On the other hand, there is more than enough podcast material available that abandoning these shows will help ease my listening load.
Prep - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Photos 

---

Time To Try X1 Desktop Search
Danny Sullivan of the Search Engine Watch Blog mentions that Jason Calacanis has 100 free copies of Idealab's X1 desktop search tool available. Wander on over and check out the offer. 

---

Poynter Online: Measurements That Count

... popularity-contest numbers aren't relevant to site management, either, when much more telling and precise information is available from site traffic analysis tools such as Omniture and HitBox, from site registration systems, and from audience management/ad-targeting tools such as Tacoda AMS and Revenue Science. Audience qualities and behaviors are the meat and potatoes of the new analytics. [Poynter Online]

 

---

Family and Fireworks

Yesterday evening, Maria and I attended the house-warming party given by our son, Bryan, and his roommates. Last weekend, they moved from a small apartment to a rental house with a medium-distance view of the ocean not far from Cabrillo College. Dinner was accompanied by a lengthy fireworks show clearly visible above the beach. Lights in the sky courtesy of a local fund-raiser.

Kate's parents now have two foreign exchange students living with them. We met Noellia from Argentina, who stayed with Tom and Nanette previously. She recently received her medical degree and will start her internship in Argentina. We also met Ricky, who is from Mexico.

Tom tried to convince me that I could make beer without poisoning anyone. His recent second-place awards for two different beers entered in local contests were well-deserved. However, my talents are more closely aligned with the consumption phase of the malt beverage lifecycle than with the production phase.

 

---

A Dragon, A Darkovian, And The Exquisite Rose

Happy Birthday, Oka.

Yesterday afternoon, Maria and I joined Dave Trowbridge, Deborah J. Ross, Rose Wheeler, Oka the German Shepard, and their family friends to celebrate Oka's 4th birthday. I have read much speculative fiction over the years, so being invited to the home of two science fiction writers was rather intimidating. Add to this the embarrassment of not being familiar with their work. Neither of them asked, so I dodged a bullet this time. Sadly, I'm lucky to find time for the monthly copy of Analog these day... and the last 2 issues are still unread. Not a good sign.

Special thanks to Rose for making us feel comfortable upon arrival. Maria thrives in social settings, but I do not. While Dave and Deborah finished last-minute preparations, Rose introduced us to Oka and the four cats. Could not have been interesting for her, but was a helpful transition for me. Thank you, Rose.

Chris Finnie (Chris Finnie Copywriting), a woman enthusiastic about her craft, graciously allowed us to monopolize her time. Chris catered Dave and Deborah's wedding last year and planned to cook Chinese for her own dinner gathering later in the evening. We also met the Weidners (Random Jottings), who discussed their trip to Mojave for the Space Ship One launch.

Deborah revealed exciting news about her writing that not even her close friends had heard and everyone offered congratulations. Public details, if any, will have to come from Dave or Deborah.

I did not realize that Oka's birthday BBQ was planned as dinner instead of lunch. Maria and I had to depart early for the open house hosted by our son and his roommates. Thanks to Dave, Deborah, and Rose for the fun afternoon.

Happy Birthday, Oka.

 

---

JupiterResearch Webinar - Web Analytics: Assessing and Meeting the Needs of Your Organization

Eric Peterson hosts a 10/26 web seminar:

The growth of the Web analytics marketplace and increase in depth and breadth of offerings from analytics vendors is both solving and creating problems for the end-user; more data is not always better.

While it is possible to capture a vast amount of Web analytics data, what do the users really need to track the business and take action?

 

---

JupiterResearch Webinar - Measuring Conversion: Benchmarking Retail Effectiveness

Eric Peterson hosts a 10/13 web seminar:

Overall, site conversion rate is one of the most commonly used Web site metrics among retailers that responded to a JupiterResearch executive survey. However, the inconsistency with which retailers measure it is confusing and inhibits intelligent benchmarking.

 

---

Radio UserLand 'Slacker Bug' Not Fixed in v8.1

Based on the previous upstreaming test post, I know that the 'one-month slacker' bug was not fixed in Radio UserLand version 8.1.

Q: WTF is the 'one-month slacker' bug?
A: If you write a post, whether to the home page or one of your categories, on a day which is exactly one month after your last post, Radio UserLand gets sick. Although the new post is entered into the database with the correct date, it is rendered to the web site using the date of your month-ago post.

So, all you slackers, don't let the moss grow on your categories or your home page. My test post today (10/7/04) was one month after the last post (9/7/04) in my Items To Review category, triggering the bug. My test post from 10/7 appears on 9/7, along with my 'real' 9/7 post.

This second test post is also going to all categories.

 

---

These Are Not The Droids You're Looking For
This is not the post for which you are looking, but will test Radio UserLand upstreaming after the version 8.1 upgrade. This is the first post since returning from Gnomedex 4. Later, I'll test post back-dating (via Mark Paschal's unsupported Radio To The Past) for my Gnomedex comments. This test is posted to all categories. 

---