Jehan Alvani
(via slowlysinking)
I’ve been really feeling bird tattoos, recently. I was just thinking “Man. I should get a bird tattoo.” Then I remembered I have two. Awesome! Success!
This is probably the best thing to happen to my productivity in years. Beautiful site, beautifully simple, and gorgeous to listen to.
High-Res
Made some mint chocolate chunk ice cream, this past Tuesday night, using York Peppermint Patties and Hershey Special Dark. It’s super dangerous to keep in the house.
Finishing the week strong.
Researchers have discovered a large contingent of silent partners in the Deepwater oil spill cleanup—bacteria. Two samples of a deep-sea oil plume show that a high number of microbes have populated the oily area and are hacking away at the hydrocarbon concentration. The bacteria also seem to be using relatively little oxygen to metabolize parts of the oil, minimizing their own environmental impact.
So nature steps in to help clean up what we made a mess of. Thank you, bacteria. You’re a true pal.
Humans have short memories. One of the things I hope to gain from my collection is an ongoing reminder of how I became me today. How we, as an industry, got from there to here. Perspective. I don’t want to live in the past, but I don’t want to forget the lessons learned either. I don’t want to lose sight of cool ideas that were just starting to bud when they were shoved rather brutally aside by the express train of progress. It’s all too easy to do as we hurtle along.
I spend a lot of time thinking about this, and I think Steven has done a great job explaining the reason that so many of us nerds love machines and technologies past. I feel it must be more difficult for a software developer to stand up and take a breath in the constant wash of new and evolving technologies. As a network engineer, the software, hardware, and protocols with which I interact on a daily basis change relatively slowly, and I still prefer to configure them via the command-line (though, sometimes I wonder how long that will go on. Probably just until Cisco or Juniper can make a decent, usable UI).
Tumblroo Impressions
- The built-in browser is great. Being able to browse links from the dashboard is a huge improvement, especially since the iPad lacks iOS 4.
- Being able to view, edit, and publish drafts is great, but figuring out how to edit drafts is a little confusing.
- Actually, the same can be said for changing the post type when you’re first creating a post. Using the gear-icon typically means “settings,” not “post type.”
- Looks like it parses Markdown pretty dang well. Sweet.
- Thoroughly enjoying the design. It integrates so well. I just confused Mail for Tumblroo, because they look and feel very similar.
- Writing a draft in Markdown, saving it as a draft, then editing it and adding more Markdown doesn’t get the draft re-parsed. That’s annoying.
- Update: Interestingly enough, the draft is properly parsed by tumblr when viewed in Safari (on a computer or iPad). When viewing the draft in Tumblroo, the markdown is not parsed. Makes me think that Tumblroo doesn’t actually do any parsing, and it downloads the drafts rarely. Thus, if you edit a draft, it won’t get re-parsed until it’s re-downloaded, and I can’t figure out how to force that to happen.
- Update2: Apparently pressing the “Reload” button at the top of the draft lists will(!) force a complete re-download, and will display a re-parsed entry. You just have to move off of the currently selected entry then back onto it to display it.
- It seems to call out the original poster of a post on reblogs in the Dashboard. Original attribution has been a longstanding beef with tumblr (recently reaffirmed by Khoi Vinh and echoed by John Gruber), and this seems to try to rectify that in-app. Strangely, it doesn’t apply the same treatment to posts in Your Posts.
- Editing a longer Draft doesn’t work quite right. It seems to truncate the post. I’ve had to resort to writing this post in Simplenote and copying it into the Draft in my Dashboard because I’m not sure if Tumbleroo is going to mess it up. Bummer. See update, below.
- Reblogging is easy, both a single-tap reblog, and a “Reblog with Comments” option. Rad.
- Wish I could see my saved searches, or perform a search from Tumbleroo. I’m not even sure if the API supports this, but it would be a great feature.
- I (surprisingly) haven’t tried to create a photo post from Tumbleroo, but word is that you can’t upload a photo from the iPad’s Photo Library. Seems like a no-brainer feature, but looks like the Tumbleroo team is fixing it. See update, below.
- I really wish that there was an easy way to copy a post’s URL. To get the URL of the Tumbleroo post above, I had to invoke the “Email Post” action, and copy the URL from the in-app email. Just putting a URL bar in the browser would solve this. Hell, it would be super-slick if the URL bar was hidden until the user scrolled above the top of the page. That way the URL bar is there when you need it, but out of the way when you don’t.
- The fact that the email is composed and sent in-app is pretty damn nice.
The bottom line is that it’s easily the best tumblr experience on anything that isn’t a computer. I really, really like this app, and I’m excited to see it grow up.
Update: A new version of Tumbleroo was made available last night. It seems to have added support for uploading photos from iPad memory,and may have fixed the long text post issue. It’s still confusing how to edit a long text post; the interface for editing a post doesn’t clearly note that there’s a method to scroll down — you have to tap & hold to place the cursor, then drag it downward in a painfully slow scroll. But it does have the whole post available to be edited. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure at this point that this wasn’t the case in the version that originally shipped. This functionality may have been there all along. My criticism stands, though, that the interface for this particular interaction stands to be improved.
Speaking of underrated, a recent arrival in Baltimore, Heain Lee has a list of must-trys (linked in the title). I love to see people discovering what’s good in this town. I’ll add a few more, and toss in my comments:
Locust Point
Miguel’s Cocina: The food is great, authentic nuevo Mexican, but the tequilas! Oh man, if you even think you might like tequila, go. Talk to any one of the bartenders (I talked to Steve), and try some tequilas.
Federal Hill
Matsuri: In the original list, Heain mentions a sushi place that starts with “M” in the Fell’s Point section. I think she’s looking for Matsuri in Federal Hill. Been voted Best of Baltimore several times, and it’s a regular stop for me and my coworkers.
The Reserve: Great food & beer on the outskirts of Fed Hill. This place is awesome.
Mr. Rain’s Fun House: Most people don’t know there is a restaurant in AVAM, but it’s excellent. The staff is fantastic, and the drinks are inventive and refreshing.
The Abbey Burger Bistro: The home to Baltimore’s Chelsea fan-club, and a place to get some amazing burgers, fries, and excellent milkshakes.
Fells Point
Nanami: Excellent Sushi in Fells. If it’s nice, there’s outdoor seating, and the price is absolutely right. If I were to pick a favorite sushi spot in the city, this would be it.
Tyson’s: Technically it’s Canton, sure, but Tyson’s caters to a generally more-mature crowd than what people think of when they hear “Canton,” so I’m listing them in Fells. Dean, the owner and primary barman, is a great guy. And the kitchen is amazing. The Tyson’s wings are worth the trip, alone.
Bad Decisions: If you’re a Baltimorean and you’re on Twitter, you’re already familiar with the Twitter-infamous Bad Decisions. Beer and Bacon Happy Hours and herb-infused cocktails. I recommend the Cucumber-Dill Gin & Tonic on any warm day.
Mr. Yogato: Frozen Yogurt done fresh and to-order. Chill in the faux-courtyard and play some boardgames. Or try the challenges on the whiteboard for a discount.
Harbor East
Ra Sushi: One of the best sushi happy hours in Baltimore, and it’s very tourist-friendly. Worth a visit.
Little Italy
Vacarro’s: Lindsay won’t let us leave Little Italy without a stop by Vacarro’s for cannoli.
Ammici’s: An Italian place I never see on any of these lists, but it’s always packed. Everything I’ve had has been great.
Mount Vernon
Brewer’s Art: The basement bar is (even after 5 years) still my favorite bar in town. Good, beers brewed in-house. I think the food is great, but it’s not for everyone.
Aloha: Lindsay and I had an awful experience at Aloha, but I won’t discourage anyone from going. I’ve heard karaoke is great, but I can’t bring myself to go back.
XS: Some people say it’s overrated, some love it. I’ve been going for years, and their specialty maki is awesome, albeit a little expensive. Also, breakfast is spectacular, and you can’t beat the setting.
Thai Landing: I’ve been twice, and really enjoyed it. Simple, classic Thai in a cozy place.
Tapas Teatro: Though less famous than ritzier Pazo, I love Tapas Teatro. It’s more approchable, the staff is more friendly, and the plates are a little more conducive to sharing. It’s a great double-date to hit up Tapas Teatro, and catch a show at Everyman.
Bolton Hill
b.: This is my favorite restaurant in the city, hands down. It’s a little, neighborhood joint, but the food is phenomenal. Go, get a bottle of wine, and just enjoy.
Charles Village/Waverly
Pete’s Grill: Long-bar Diner in the old-style. There’s only bar seating, and only a little of it, and you can only pay with cash. But you can’t ask for a better hungover breakfast and coffee.
Thai Restaurant: “Good Thai? On Greenmount Ave? But it looks so sketch!” Yeah, I hear it a lot, but Thai Restaurant has long been one of the best Thai places in the city. And, because it looks so sketch, it’s easy to get a seat!
Charles Village Pub: Cheap drinks, and only a few blocks walk from my house. Love it.
Waverly Farmer’s Market: Every Saturday of the year, from 7:00 AM - 12:00 Noon, the Waverly Farmer’s Market brings great produce, a few crafts, and a lot of fun. Completely different from the JFX Market on Sundays. Both are worth a look.
Belvedere Square
Grand Cru: A wine bar that pours a mean Martini (notice, I’m sticking by Spaceman Andy’s rules, here, in capitalizing the M), Grand Cru had decent light-fare but a solid wine & cocktail list.
Huffington Post gets it. There’s way more to this city than can possibly fit in a couple paragraphs, but they hit the touristy highlights as well as some local Charm City charm.
(via baltiamore)
