In a few minutes, I'm heading down to Washington, D.C. I will be returning on Monday. I don't know if I'll write here over the weekend, probably not. I'm going to see the Dalai Lama and walk in protest (for freeing Tibet) past the Chinese Embassy. There will also be a big festival of Tibetan Art & Culture. I'm hoping to learn a bunch, try some new food and take many pictures. Have a good weekend folks.
1:59 PMThere is a "natural" trend in the use of processors as they get faster and cheaper. Over time, more of the processor is dedicated to the enhancement of the user experience. In the early days of computing, most of the effort was spent on the utility of a program, the actual calculations, storage and retrieval of data. Now most is spent on the communication of and interaction with what is calculated, stored and retrieved, or the usability of a program. This trend swings the pendulum from people (at that time mostly programmers) adjusting their behavior for the computer to the computers adjusting their behavior for people (e.g. John and Jane Doehickey). That is a very good thing.
1:38 PMThursday, June 29, 2000
Now this is a webcam. I met Ana of Anacam at SXSW 2000. An entertaining character she is and now you can see her in full live motion.
7:10 PMThere are many articles online trying to provide a convincing argument for usability testing. Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini has written one of the better ones.
5:06 PMCompared to The Patriot, Braveheart was much better. There were too many parallels: fighting for freedom against the evil British King, the hero is inspired by the death of a family member and Mel Gibson is leading the army as a psycho killer. The Patriot was too long, Braveheart was just right. I think Mel Gibson should be banned from playing any such roles because they will all pale in comparison to Braveheart.
10:59 AMI was a buffalo wing fiend in college. I discovered them during finals freshman year. I never ate them before that. I've basically stopped after I graduated. Eating wings was one of those collegiate habits.
10:46 AMAfter sitting for three somewhat long hours watching The Patriot, my mind was living in the times of the revolutionary war. My mind was enchanted by the chivalry, the war-time romances and fighting to the death for the principles of liberty and freedom. I was rudely awakened when I heard two guys swearing while peeing in the urinals.
1:53 AMWednesday, June 28, 2000
Some of you were amused by the little animated image of Michelle
. Let me treat you (and embarrass her) with a larger version (warning: it is 281 K big). Hey, I even have one of Dave Grossman (warning: it is 472 K big). Digital cameras are fun. :) 4:29 PMThe men are coming out. Apparently, I'm not the only guy who wears perfume. Others do it knowingly. Alina reports that her friend in Singapore wears Acqua di Gio. Kevin admits that he too sports that scent. In fact, he was wearing it the day he read about me wearing it. I knew there was a reason I liked him. Kevin says when it came out years ago it was marketed to men in GQ and Details. Since then, they have released a men's version. Now, I feel even less embrassed, although I know there have been quite a few laughs out there. Elan wears perfume, nah nah na na nah...
4:14 PMWhen lacking experience we look for simple hard and fast rules or principles to understand another person or his work. We copy from our view of the world and paste it right on someone else. Leo Robert Klein discusses this phenomenon in Web Design and Sin (via zeldmam.com). His says we are all amateurs and we shouldn't be criticizing each other's work, especially until we've done something similar.
3:55 PMTuesday, June 27, 2000
After an interview in NYC today, I rushed to get back to the bus station. I got there about ten minutes before the next bus was leaving, so I got something quick to eat. I didn't eat quick enough, though, and missed the bus. While waiting for the bus that leaves an hour later, I bowled two games at the bus station's bowling alley. Then I raced some cars in the arcade. Fun!!! I need to be a kid more often.
4:52 PMThousands of songs at $1 each and free singing lessons at eatsleepmusic.com. What else do you need at an online karaoke destination? According to the front page of the site, not only can you can sing along with Britney Spears, but you can sing patriotic tunes, too. Great, now we've equated Britney with the Star Spangled Banner.
8:13 AMSoccer players = sex animals (courtesy of Alina)
12:49 AMJakob Nielsen is charging some hefty prices:
Website usability review: $30,000If you want to hire me, I can do the same for 1/10th the price. Although, I don't think I'm 1/10th the man he is. We're about the same shortness. Really though, you should pay me 1/10th the price because I don't own and wear a bright yellow shirt like he does.
Keynote speeches: $25,000
1-day usability seminar: $35,000
3-day usability workshop: $70,000
12:34 AMMonday, June 26, 2000
Elan: I got a free Tibet decal today.
Amir: Is that a new band?
11:52 PMI signed up for AOL's free membership about a month ago when I was having trouble getting online through my ISP. I canceled my AOL membership a week ago and since then AOL called me three times to get me back or offer me a free copy of AOL for Dummies. Why exactly would I cancel if I wanted to get back online with them and why would I need the book, too? Looks like AOL is turning into a long distance carrier.
4:03 PMI have seen a lot of people wearing Billabong shirts recently. But, I've never seen anybody wearing a shirt with this logo.
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1:23 PMIn the last 30 days, some people have reached elan.org by searching for the following at search engines:
- pictures of people picking their nose
- are there any specific test that could take that will inform me which is the best career goal for me?
- pretzel's yoga
- gefilte variations
- pictures of slaves
11:06 AMSunday, June 25, 2000
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Acqua di Gio by Georgio Armani is my preferred cologne. I bought my first bottle duty-free in the Singapore airport over two years ago. I enjoyed it the second I smelled it. I have three simple requirements for the cologne I wear. The cologne should be subtle, I must like it and the women I interact with must like it. I don’t remember exactly who was with me or how I knew, but that cologne met my criteria. I’ve been wearing it on and off for the past two years and recently bought a new bottle. I have gotten quite a few compliments on it.
Well, my friend Michelle
, came over last week and saw the bottle above of Acqua di Gio on my dresser. She nonchalantly asked, "Why do you have that perfume?" I responded, "What, my cologne?" Then the argument ensued.Michelle: "It’s perfume."
Elan: "No, it’s cologne."
Michelle: "No. I used to wear it, it’s perfume."
Elan: "Well, I bought it in the men’s section of the store."
Michelle: "They must have been confused."
Elan: "Okay, when in doubt, research it on the Internet."
We researched and found this. Shit! She was right. I have been wearing perfume for the last two years and no one had a clue. I feel like I should be embarrassed, but I’m not. The perfume meets my cologne criteria. Besides, it doesn’t say "for women" on the bottle. Like anything fashionable, you have to be "in the know."
Fashion and style are difficult, on purpose. It would have been easy to say for men or women, but why? There needs to be a way to separate the men from the boys or in this case the men from the women.
11:58 PMSaturday, June 24, 2000
Here are some quick highlights from last night's celebration of Jean Barmash's 23rd birthday party:
 Max is VERY happy to see Jean while Dave is oblivious... |
 ... and Inna is VERY happy to see Gary. |
 Amy is making friends with the plant while... |
 ... Marina demonstrates her amazing fork and salt shaker trick. |
The night started at Jean's apartment and ended at the ritualistic Land and Sea diner. The last two pictures were taken by Amir, who used my camera, but knows how to use it better since I copied him and got one just like his.
9:12 PMThe ashtray in my car is too small. It can hold about three of four crushed tissues. The ashtray isn't big enough to store the typical trash I want like receipts, food wrappers and tissues unless I empty it once a week. I wonder if the designers imposed their own values here. They probably thought:
"There is no reason there should be trash in this car. It is a nice car; we made it and it should always be clean. So, let's impose some good habits on our drivers, we'll make them empty the potentially smelly astray every week or, even better, we'll make them throw new trash out when they reach their next destination."Oh, the innocent thoughts of designers. Creative lazy drivers, like me, just find other places for trash, like the passenger seat or the coin holder. This innocent thinking of designers smells like: "Hmmm, the user of our web site would really appreciate the new capabilities of this plug-in. We should make them download it." Creative lazy users, like me, just find other places to put our clicks.
5:55 PMFriday, June 23, 2000
Some cool design-related links I've come across recently:
- Apple Computer human-interface alumni page - lists many Apple alumni from their design group, their positions at Apple, their current web sites and current jobs. Quite a few alumns are in high-level user experience positions.
- Presentations from ASIS's recent Information Architecture (IA) conference - American Society for Information Science held a conference to try to define what IA is. The presentations from leaders in the field (such as Peter Morville, Jeffrey Veen, Mark Hurst, Seth Gordon and others) are available for online viewing.
- Argus Center for Information Architecture - This online center (or portal) tries to store resources related to IA: white papers, links, articles, indepedent research and more.
9:49 PMThursday, June 22, 2000
You thought pop radio stations play the same music repeatedly, try spending a few days at Barnes & Noble.
7:29 PMJuly 4th weekend is coming up and I'm thinking of doing something different, not the typical BBQ or camping thing. The Dalai Lama is coming to the U.S. that weekend. He will be speaking on Sunday, July 2nd at the National Mall in Washington D.C. July 1st there will be a Rally & Peace March for Tibet. People will march right past the Chinese Embassy. Why don't you march and be home in time for July 4th? Want to go with me? Visit savetibet.org for more details.
7:28 PMLast week, I shared with you a dream I had that included Michael Jackson. I thought more about the dream and realized Michael's existence in my dream wasn't an accident. Around the age of 13, my friends were having their bar and bat mitzvahs. At the parties, there would usually be a competition; often it was a lip-syncing competition. I always participated. I always sang a Michael Jackson song, except once. I usually sang Man in the Mirror, but sometimes I sang Billy Jean. I always won or got a prize when I sang Michael, but the one time I decided last minute to sing Johnny Be Good, I got nothing.
The desire to sing Michael songs originated earlier, in junior high. Before the whole puberty thing, I could sing on key. In 7th grade, the chorus teacher chose me to sing a solo of Man in the Mirror with the chorus backing me up. I did. I sang it, nervous as hell with all the cute girls I liked in the chorus behind me. Instead of standing there like a tree just moving my mouth as I rehearsed, I started snapping my fingers and tapping my feet. That is when the giggling and laughing exploded. This was happening, of course, during a performance for hundreds of parents, with everyone's eyes on me. It was a traumatic experience. I'm still dreaming about Michael, singing his songs and fearful of improvising at the last minute.
7:20 PMI rarely gape at the monitor in excitement of experiencing something cool on the web. But, I recently came across Scott McCloud's "I Can't Stop Thinking!!" column at the Comic Reader (via peterme) and I love it. Scott is the author of Understanding Comics (and now also Reinventing Comics). He's trying to wake up the world of comics to the potential the Internet provides. He's fighting the standard problem of old points-of-view unwilling to change for the realities of the present or opportunities of the future. The coolest part about his attempt to communicate his point of view is that he uses comic art and personal dialogue to do it. All his columns are quite good, but the first one I experienced was the funniest for me.
10:00 AMWednesday, June 21, 2000
Small world it is. Sarah, who I met at SXSW 2000, linked to a poem written by Damon Achey. I read the poem and linked to it myself. Damon later wrote me, to thank me for linking, and then I realized I sat next to this guy in Algorithms class years back at Lehigh. Yup, Damon, a Lehigh Computer Science classmate, has a personal website and weblog of his own.
12:00 PMContinuing on the health theme, I've always wondered what happens too food after it enters your mouth. Where does it go, how long does it take and what happens to it along the way? Follow the Flow of Food has some answers.
11:55 AM
