DogBalls Blog

2006 was a GOOD year... not a GOLF year

I managed to make it out to Lost Canyons today and when I returned to post my 90 (sans dogballs I'm happy to report) I realized that it was only my seventh round of the year. It's been a wonderfully busy year but I realized that my golfing quotient has dropped off way too much from recent years. (55 in 2005.)

I'm looking forward to when Sydney can keep her head upright and ride along with me in the golf cart...not too fast though. ;-)

HAPPY 2007. Here's to more good times (and more golf.)

Griffith Observatory for the next generation

The Griffith Observatory has re-opened after four years and 90 million dollars of renovation and expansion. Stacey and I paid it a visit yesterday...which is no small feat because of the hassle involved in getting reservations. Because of the demand...reservations are required and the spots fill up quickly. HINT: Sign-up for the Greek Theater stop. It's free and it's the closest parking lot from the Observatory.

The expansion is impressive...especially considering that special care had to paid to preserving the classic architecture that the Griffith Observatory had since its opening in 1935. The expansion is reminiscent of the work done on the UCSD's Central Library, when all expansion was done underground. The Griffith Observatory added 40,000 square feet of usable space ... and didn't change the structure's outward appearance.

The main building is compact. It is comprised of the main entrance, two wings of exhibits and the entrance to the planetarium. It is the expansion that provides a jaw-dropping display of all nine planets, a star-scape and new auditorium named after Leonard Nimoy. The nine-planet display is one my favorites...they kept the individual scales to indicate how much you'd weigh on each. A kid favorite!

Another exhibit that made it through the renovation is the Foucault pendulum. It is a beautifully conceived experiment that demonstrates the Earth's rotation around the sun...a wonderful welcome into the Griffith Observatory.

The centerpiece of the Observatory is the newly remodeled and renovated planetarium. It's a must-see when you visit the observatory. The old has been replaced with the new to show the stars projected above your seats and also provides a story on theory development of our solar system, universe and galaxy around us.

As an aspiring architect myself [wink], the architecture of the Observatory is worth the price of admission (if they charged any.) It is the most photographed observatory in the world. (I'm not entirely sure how they measured that (flickr tags? )but... I am also still grasping how the Foucault pendulum works on the North Pole.

Make your reservations today ... and get to the Griffith Observatory.

Picture of the Day

  10 years 
  Originally uploaded by mil8.

Stacey and I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our first date by following in our own foot-steps...

Griffith Observatory (re-opened just in time), drinks and appetizers at Gladstones followed by hot-chocolate (spiked with Peppermint Schnapps back at her place) and a sleep-over. ;-)

Great day...and they said it would never last. :)

Edwards & Scoble 2008

  John Edwards @ Gnomedex 
  Originally uploaded by kk+.

At my first Gnomedex earlier this year in Seattle, I had the privilege to hear John Edwards speak. The underlying message was clear...here's a guy that understands the power of the influential early-adopters in the blogging/social network arena and he's locking them up early on.

Apparently the connections he made included Robert Scoble because he accompanied him to New Orleans for the announcement that he would be running for President in 2008. What an exciting time for all involved.

Scoble has had a few interesting posts that show a glimpse of Edwards' staff as they use technology (the "RSS Tap") to keep a pulse on the blogosphere and news-reports of their candidate's move in the race. (This is a far cry from reports that Bush Senior was mesmerized by the grocery-store scanner.)

It will be an interesting race to watch...I'm interested to hear how his campaign continues to use technology to stay ahead. (It won't be enough though...as Howard Dean proved already.)

Merry Christmas from Bennihana's

  Bennihana's 
  Originally uploaded by mil8.

As Jewish tradition mandates...we eat Chinese or Japanese on Christmas Day and watch the season's best movies in time for 'Oscar Season.'

Merry Merry and Happy Happy to you and yours!

2007 ... Here we come.

Valleywag's top "made-up" searches

I can't speak for all the lists [LINK] they made-up (on news that major search engines routinely omit and manipulate results of their top-searches) but these two seem to be spot-on accurate:

Flickr

1. kitties
2. super-saturated landscape
3. photos with bad blur passed off as "artistic"
4. blogger conference
5. sky
6. sky
7. more damn sky

Technorati

1. that blogger conference i saw on flickr
2. spaghetti monster places of worship
3. giztoto-- engageme-- cruncherbot-- whatever blog knows when i can get an iphone

Hachem ain't no fluke

Mike Sexton, Sabina Gadeki, Vince Van Patton, and Joe Hachem
Originally uploaded by pokerwire.

Joe Hachem (2005 winner of the World Series of Poker's Main Event) takes first place in the 2006 WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Championship.

WOW!

Wallstrip ['The Betrayal' Style]

In an apparent homage to one of Seinfeld's finest episodes, today's Wallstrip is in reverse order. BRAVO! Booze, balls and locks... bring it on Lindsay!

BMW uses youtube user-generated content

Popular 'kid going crazy' with xmas present [it was a Nintendo 64] from back in the day is re-used for this BMW :30 spot. Imagine his excitement ... it probably came with Mario 64!

UPDATE: In honor of "YOU" being named as Time Magazine's Person of the Year ...  Sydney's video is *also* now featured on the BMW site [LINK]. Coming soon to a BMW commercial...

Picture in picture

Another little flickr trick I just discovered... perhaps it's been there since day one?

When visiting static photos from your photostream, the image appears as a "URL icon" in firefox 2.0 (untested in IE 7.0.)

Another way flickr continues to evolve... 'ho ho ho URL icon' I can't wait until they get out of 'gamma'! ;-)