Eagle-eyed readers noticed resting on the best couch ever that there was an orange octopus. His name and how he ended up there is a great story. When my daughter was in elementary school, we participated in a program called Indian Princesses that started in kindergarten with graduation in 5th grade. Each month there were… More

Slack is fully integrated into my life. Over the course of the last six months, it’s become a rarefied default application for me. It’s still early in the day and the coffee hasn’t kicked, but I can’t think of the last application that became default. Probably Twitter? The communication gap that Slack is filling is… More

At the bottom of an individual post on this site, you might notice there is a small grey leaf. No one has ever commented about this leaf. No one has ever asked about its significance. It’s a pleasant quiet ending to a post. There was a time when this version of the site was being… More

It is with great joy and a little bit of sadness that I welcome you to next version of Rands. For a long list of dear friends, I’m “that guy”. I’m the guy who has told an endless number of people that the redesign of Rands has been just around the corner for the last… More

The camera on the new phone has the ability to take three separate pictures and then stitch the three together into a single panorama. It’s a slow process, but the end result is a photo which gives an entirely different perspective. I’m in Scotland all week and I was successful in completely ignoring jetlag until… More

I ran cross country for many years in jr. high and highschool. A daily longish run became part of the regular routine. I was unable to sleep well unless I’d chewed up some nearby trail. Upon arrival at UC Santa Cruz, I found a gorgeous loop trail near the East Field House that I’d hit… More

A list of things I don’t understand about Thanksgiving: How I can’t peel my eyes off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Why I didn’t think to turn the sound off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ten years ago. Why I always resist the walk around the hill my parents insist on doing, but always end… More

Twelve days in Europe has revealed the following: Drinking good red wine with every dinner mellows you out Hanging in Italy and France during the World Cup is the only way to understand what soccer means to the rest of the world. My first night in Italy was the day of the USA versus Italy… More

Storms still ripping through NorCal. The forest below the house is wet, wet, wet and that means mushrooms. This particular growth in in the base of semi-dead oak. One of those yellow things is a big as your hand. It’s big. And freaky. And a big version.

The project list for the week off is extensive. Finish How to Lose Your Job, Pt. 2… seriously mess around with Photoshop via a fine Xmas gift from the Mom… tidy up my Del.icio.us bookmarks to make some sense… hey, I should clean-up my local bookmarks, as well. NOTE TO SELF. Oh yeah, I’m going… More