For Valentine's Day this year, Laura wanted to have a lunchdate at someplace new.  After a littlesearching she found a place in East Grand Rapids called Marie Catrib's  - http://www.mariecatribs.com/. I checked it out online and figured out how to get there and we were off.

I can't begin to tell you how much we were impressed by theplace (didn't bring a camera - should have). First thing that really struck me was the "local" flavor ofthe place.  Not only is it locally ownedand operated (like to promote the local economy) but most of their ingredientscome from local farms within a "scooter trip" from therestaurant.  This means they use localfarms (and greenhouses in the winter) to get veggies, meat and cheeses.  They even name the farms and offer summertours so you can buy food for home from local places too.  The building itself was eco-friendly - likethe downtown YMCA and new Art Museum it is a LEED-certified building whichincludes a "live roof", passive solar, zero-rain-water shed,etc.  They have a wide variety of foodand offer a lot of vegetarian and even vegan options, but also have home-madesausage (which I had in my Baker's Omelet).

There were probably 4-5 groups ahead of us when we gotthere, so the wait was about 20-25 minutes. During this time they had a cool coffee bar (I had organic vanilla hazelnut)and they came by three times with cinnamon rolls and seasoned pita chips.  During the wait we looked over the Saturday menu(http://www.mariecatribs.com/images/uploads/891Brunch0508.pdf)and the amazing amount of take-home food they had ready-to-go (we took home somerice, hummus, and a monster cookie - all vegan, all good).

We are already planning a return visit - this time with thechildren (looked quite kid-friendly and good options for them).  I had never heard of the place before Lauramentioned it, but can't figure out how we missed it.

I just got done reading Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers: The Story of Success" and I want to make this as little like a middle school book report as possible. So ...

For my ADD readers:

• Recommended? Yes, Absolutely
• Audience? Amazingly wide - not "geek"
  Surprising/Thoughtful?  Anyone who can reasonably link the success of The Beatles, Bill Gates, Hockey Pros, Oppenheimer and others while explaining Korean plane crashes, Asian math scores, and much more is quite talented and thought-provoking.
• Style? Writes chapters almost like stand-alone stories - I love storytelling rather than just raw facts.  It really draws you in.
• If you were really ADD you'd either be looking up the book on Amazon or on some other post by now.  How much does Amazon pay to be the top Google match on books?
  

For everyone else:

I do recommend this book for nearly everyone to read.  Agree with it or not, it will certainly make you think.  If you ever wonder why some people seem to "have it all" or "get a lucky break" or "are in the right place at the right time", then you will love this book.  It is hard to categorize as a book of non-fiction.  It could easily be a business book with many huge business success stories from early clothing peddlers, to lawyers to Bill Gates.  It could be a risk management book with stories of why ignoring one's culture can crash planes.  It could be an evaluation of the educational system and how it sometimes breeds success in spite of the structures in place that make being different very difficult.  It could be an inspirational or self-help book as it shows how high-IQs and Ivy League educations pale in comparison the culture and surrounding environment as factors for success.   One of the items that is reinforced several times is the 10,000 hours number of the time it really takes to be an expert or an outlier in a particular area - better start practicing.

A good book by a good author and storyteller - who also has a good TED talk that is worth viewing.  Check it out if any of this sounds interesting to you.  I actually "read" the audiobook version that the Kent District Library has several copies of.  One interesting note there is that Gladwell reads his own book, and his storytelling voice is actually quite good as well.  There is also an interview at the end that you will not get in the "dead trees" version of the book.

I get regularly chided by some friends on Twitter and Facebook when my updates and messages seem to include things that are quite foreign to many people – and in reviewing a few of the more egregious posts, they are absolutely correct.  So, to head off what will be a small barrage of posts the rest of the week, I wanted to put a quick post together on the CodeMash conference that I’ll be attending Wednesday through Friday.

What is CodeMash?  It is a regional/local conference (Sandusky, Ohio) for software developers (i.e. the “Code” in CodeMash).  But is is quite different in that it offers, allows, and even encourages programmers of all different “flavors” (e.g. Microsoft (.NET), Java, Ruby, PHP, iPhone, etc.) to present – this is the “Mash” or mashup.  A “mashup” is typically an application that takes functionality from different sources and puts them together in new and exciting ways – even if the different pieces were never really designed to work together.  So this, in my opinion, is the genius of this conference – you can have a main focus on one set of technologies (and my “bread and butter” is Microsoft) but still get a great taste and experience of what the rest of the industry has to offer, and come out better because of it.

January has many different conferences and meet-ups like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with all the new gadgets for the year, MacWorld with typically new computers, iPods, software, and even the Detroit Auto Show with all the new cars (we need some real excitement there).  But if I could be at any of them in January I would pick something like CodeMash because is the one that really only works well when attended in person.  I can read the press releases from CES and MacWorld and get 90+% of the information that I need. CodeMash is about learning from others, interacting with others, and really following the personal flow of what is important and interesting to an individual. 

There is also the opportunity to attend and even present in the Open Spaces area of the conference.  This is where impromptu presentations and discussions happen around topics that are of interest to the people that are there at the moment, and the content and timing of these sessions can not be predicted in advance.  It is a weird idea if someone is used to just being a “consumer” at a conference, but when you start to see the conference as “collaboration” and “community” then you really start to be fully a part of the group.

Finally, there is the whole “Twitter Tribe” and “Facebook Folks” aspect of the conference.  That is, there are some people that I’ve met only briefly (or never met in person at all) but follow and lightly interact with online. CodeMash is a chance to really put faces together with people and have the richer personal interaction that builds relationships with other people who share the same “craft” and many of the same interests.

So if I stray into “geek speak” over the next few days oblige me a little bit and I can explain more when I get back and see you face to face.

After a really busy summer I am making an effort to get back into a routine which includes posting about some interesting things going on personally, professionally, and otherwise.

I thought a “soft-launch” back into it would be sharing one of my pet-peeves of the day.

The “insult to injury” here is the “Did you find what you wanted?” phrase – because apparently the little doggy did find a lot of things I probably wanted to see, but refused to show them to me.

From a Test-Driven Development perspective wouldn’t you do a simple count of the items on the right and match to the “found” number on the left?

I don't have time to post much this morning, but I wanted to get this out.

This Saturday (March 22, 2008) we attended the West Michigan FIRST Robotics Regional Competition over the weekend.  I'll post a couple pictures, and my first YouTube video (from my digital camera - came out pretty good).  I'll add some commentary and thoughts about it all very soon.

We got to the competition with the preliminaries already underway.  The rules are quite complex, but here is a link if you are interested.

Then we visited the "pits" where many of the teams were willing to show us their robots close up (safety glasses please) and explain how they worked (and give out their team pin - which were cool to collect).

This is the "WO-Bot" from West Ottawa High School (near Holland) - this was Nathan's favorite as it tossed the ball over the divide.

I went through all the pictures and they really don't give you a feel for what went on there.  I added the YouTube video below to see if that would help.

Lots of lessons and ideas came out of this day.  More to come.

I know Spring Breaks are coming up (or in progress) and people are heading for Florida.  Having just gotten back from a great trip there, I wanted to share a few more things we found there that greatly exceeded our expectations.  This one is Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island (both Florida State Parks).

If you are on the "gulf side" of Florida, and anywhere in driving range of the Clearwater Beach / Tampa area, this one may be for you ...

The first thing you will notice about the islands is how (relatively) few people will be there (compared to Clearwater Beach or other public beaches).  This is for, in my opinion, three reasons.  First, it is out of the way a bit - you need to drive a little ways to get there, and it is away from any major city.   Second, there are no hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, etc. on the islands - bring a lunch/drinks with you (or settle for the "snack bar" type food there).  Finally, you have to pay to get in - only $5 per car to Honeymoon Island, add $9/adult and $5.50/child to take the ferry to Caladesi Island (yes you can only get there by boat, but it is worth it (see below).  My point is, you need to make an effort (in driving and money) to get there which many/most people will not do.

So why is this place so great?  Let's start with the obvious - it's the #2 rated beach in the country (and stands up to that rating).  I've been to Coco Beach, Daytona Beach, Hilton Head Island, Clearwater Beach, Grand Haven, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and a few others and I can say that Caladesi Island is the nicest beach I have ever been to, by a significant margin.

Next, since it is a State Park they have done a lot to not only protect wildlife, but also guide you to see it.

At the entry of Honeymoon Island there is a nature center / ranger station.  There they had a huge deck with a bunch of spotting scopes where we could see herons, egrets, owls, hawks, tortoise and a bunch of other wildlife (even a Nine Branded Armadillo).

The tide was heading out as we got there, and there were more shells (empty and full) than we saw in all our other "shell hunts" combined.  We found many sand dollars and great samples of all kinds of other shells.

One of the ladies that worked there had found a stranded (living) starfish which we put in a pail and watched for a time.  We put him/her/it back out deeper in the ocean before we left to live another day.

They had kayaks to rent as well as chairs / umbrellas if you wanted them.  This is nice as you don't have to haul your own over on the boat, or lay on the sand for 3-4 hours.

I forgot to mention that. The ferry to Caladesi Island leaves from Honeymoon Island every hour (or half-hour).  The ferry holds about 30-35 people.  Now the only way off the island is the same ferry going the other way, but there isn't room for everyone who came out during the day to head back after sunset.  So you get pre-booked on the return ferry that leaves four hours from the time you came over.  We came over at 11:30 so we were pre-booked on the 3:30 return ferry.  You can show up for an earlier (or later) ferry, but those who are pre-booked for the return ferry get preference.  So you may have to wait 30-60 minutes for the next ferry if it fills up.  They will run until everyone gets back, but they try to make each run as productive as possible.

So, if you like a great beach, nature, shelling, sunshine, boat rides and a little adventure - then this might just be for you.

Enjoy - let me know if you go - we can share some more stories.

When was the last time you heard someone say, in real life, that something "delighted" them, or it was "delightful".  If you are like me it has not happened in recent memory.  But the word seems to keep coming up on vacation so I've been thinking a lot about it.

First, being at the Universal parks in Orlando this week has almost been like visiting a foreign country.  There are literally 2-3 times as many people here from Europe or Eastern Europe than there are from the USA - and they aren't the most populous group.  The #1 language spoken in the park this week, by a factor of 10, is Portuguese - the Brazilian Portuguese (which apparently is as different from the Portuguese from Portugal as the Spanish spoken in Mexico is different from the Spanish spoken in Spain (and perhaps the English spoken in the USA is from the "Queen's English")).

I'll go with this tangent for a second.  Brazil is on "summer vacation" right now and there are work-study groups that bring college-aged kids to the USA as tour groups (for fun for a while) and then they work in the park until late March when they return home at the end of their work/study visa.  This seems like a huge win-win for all - there are tons of paying customers at Universal from Brazil (they even have their own printed materials, maps, signs, etc.) and there are nice student workers who speak the language and are willing to put in the long hours away from home.  I got to speak to several of them this week and my view has changed a bit about what it means to the economy in the USA to have foreign workers (here legally, paying taxes, etc.).  The issue is much deeper, but the many hundreds of Brazilians here, for the most part, were very well received.

Anyway, back to "delight" - the first mention of it was from a British woman speaking about how enjoyable one of the rides was.  (BTW, some of the British families here make "the Dursleys" look well-adjusted).  Next came this kiosk.

It was a "fruity drink" vendor (hard to keep hydrated in the 82 degree heat .... how's the snow?) And it occurred to me that the word "delight" often comes in the context of food (e.g. Turkish Delight). 

But what does "delight" mean?  Why isn't the word used much?  It seems antiquated or "stuffy" when you say it out loud.  I think there is something here though - something that has maybe been lost and needs to return.

I am hooked on the word - I want to "delight" people with the work and things that I do.  I want to do more than "meet expectations" and have people be visibly pleased with what I've done.  Don't want to "shock" people or "surprise" people, but go the extra mile and bring a smile to their face.

I'll write more on this once I've thought it through a bit more about it - I have some ideas.  It isn't easy, and takes extra time and effort.  But it certainly is hard to compete against, and would be impossible to automate or outsource, and is just plain good for everyone.

Headed for the beach for 4 days, and then on to Cape Canaveral for a hopeful launch of STS-122 (watching a bent hose that has got some attention lately,and then back home.  See you soon.

I can't imagine posting again before Christmas, so I wanted to wish everyone a safe and blessed Christmas.

This is really creative - with all the people using Google Maps and Google Earth to view directions and satellite images from space, what would it have been like if this was available in Biblical times?  A group called The Glue Society has tried to image it and create the images (through the magic of Photoshop and custom design).

Garden of Eden

Noah's Ark (the "after" picture)

Moses parting the Red Sea (my favorite)

The Crucifixion (powerful)

CR Blog » Blog Archive » The Bible According To Google Earth

I've got to try this out soon - if it works it could really be brilliant.  The idea is that you take a number of pictures (3+) of something touristy (i.e. something that people and cars are going past and getting "in the way").  Don't have to be perfectly the same, just close.

Then the program looks at all of the pictures and removes anything that isn't in all the pictures (i.e. people move, cars are gone, etc).

What you are left with is just the main object/building/thing without all the "noise".

Wonder how they do it?

Cool Tool: Tourist Remover

I wont spend much time rehashing this because Chris does a great job of it in his post, but there is a Add-in for Word 2007 that does much more than just equation editing.

And you thought "spell check" was cool - now there is "math check".

It will simplify the equation, graph it, and even solve for "x" (multiple roots for polynomials).

Check out the article and the get the Add-in here.

MS Math Add-In for Word 2007 - Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet

I had forgotten that I preordered this book from Amazon but it came in the mail on Friday and I read through it over the weekend (also got a LEGO Droid Development kit off an eBay auction, but that is another story).

The Howtoons book is really well done.  You can get a basic idea of the premise of the book by visiting the Howtoons site online or looking through some back issues of Make magazine.  But basically it is a creative way (comics with a story) of getting kids actively involved in working on hands-on science and construction projects.

One of the things that was a very positive surprise about the book, was that the book was not just a recap and compilation of their existing strips (which would have been worth the price anyway).  They also got into the whole "background story" of what helps enable kids to be creative and constructive.  There are a number of pages written (and drawn) to promote the idea of kids having a "workshop" (or just a workbench) where they can work on projects, and where a little bit of paint or glue would just "add character" to the place rather than "mess it up".   They also cover building up a good "tool bucket" and have a nice section on making and using protective eyewear for safety. 

On top of that there are some great projects to build.  The Marshmallow Shooter that we did this summer is in there.  Also there are bigger projects like the pop-bottle-water-rocket that may have to wait until spring to try out (been wanting to figure out the best way to pressurize PVC with a bike pump anyway).  This strip is another good example of telling the whole story and not just giving instructions.  They discuss several failed attempts at pop-bottle rocketry by the characters before their eventual and dramatic success.

I rarely recommend books to people (because everyone is different) but I did wholeheartedly suggest getting the Dangerous Book for Boys earlier this year.  I'll back that up by recommending this book as well for any 7-16 year-old boy or girl who likes to build and experiment with things (with definite adult supervision for the younger kids - but that's half the fun anyway).