Losing your pants is NOT worth 54 million dollars!

Thank goodness!!! NOt sure if you have heard, but there was this judge in Washington D.C. who apparently lost a pair of pants in a dry cleaning shop. After some back and forth with the shop owners (first they could not find the pants, then they did) the judge decided to sue the shop owners for damages in the millions, over 60 million to be precise which was later reduced to 54 million. WTF. The guy based his case on a sign inside the store that said "satisfaction guaranteed". He argued that because he wasn't satisfied that this is a case of fraud and sued for damages. He even threw in some $10,0000 or more for future rental car costs because he will now have to go to a dry cleaner farther away. WTF again.
And according to some of the news reports he even rejected settlement proposals from the dry cleaners ranging from $3,000 to $12,000. How dumb do you have to be?
Anyway, the judge in this case denied him the millions claiming that this was unreasonable. Really? I don't think this required a trial to find this out. Nobody got hurt (at least physically) and if a loss of a pair of pants is mentally a desaster for someone then that person should seek some other help than money. Anyway, finally common sense won over one of these dumb lawsuits. And the guys who sued is a judge which makes it even more ridiculous. Just do a Google search on "washington pants lawsuit" to read all about it.

Environmentally Friendly

Today, I did a good thing for the environment. For the first time I refilled the fuel tank of my little 2003 Volkswagen Golf TDI with biodiesel. It was B20, meaning it's a blend of 20% biodiesel made from soybeans and 80% petrodiesel. That's the recommended blend to start with before moving on to B99 or even B100. Felt good, and didn't cost more than regular diesel. Rotten Robbie is one of the first chains to run a few gas stations that sell biodiesel. Anyway, what are the benefits of biodiesel? Check out biodiesel.org for all the details. In a nutshell:

• Pure biodiesel reduces CO2 emissions by up to 78%.
• The CO2 released into the atmosphere when biodiesel is burned is recycled by growing plants, which are later processed into fuel.
• According to biodiesel.org, scientific research confirms that biodiesel exhaust has a less harmful impact on human health than petroleum diesel fuel.
  

Now if that doesn't make you feel good, what does? What are you doing for the environment today? I think I am turning into a little Eco-terrorist ...

Contextual Shortcuts (my former Yahoo! project)

Today, Yahoo! turned on Contextual Shortcuts in Yahoo News. It's pretty cool and good to see that my former project remains alive and that the work I did lives on. Check out the Yahoo Search blog post about it.

Another one that falls into the "ridiciulous" category ...

Almost forgot to write about this. A few weeks ago my wife and I decided to go out and buy a new mattress. Our old one had served its purpose and started to become uncomfortable. We kind fo knew what we wanted and headed over to one these mattress chain stores. We settled on a Tempurpedic which is really nice and cost us about $1500.00. Not cheap, but hey, sleeping well is important. But if you think this is expensive, think again. I tried a mattress which cost $15,000. How ridiculous is that? And it wasn't even more comfortable. Kind of squishy and you kind of needed a ladder to get on top of it because it was so thick. Apparently, it's so expensive because it is handstitched. Who cares, it's covered by sheets anyway, so you won't even see it. Maybe they last longer? The mattress we bought is supposed to last 10 years, to make up the difference in price through longevity, the super-ridiculously-expensive would have to last 10 times as long, which comes out to 100 years. That's too long for my taste.

Heavy Machinery

Image008.jpg
Originally uploaded by jmeyer

Ben, Chris and I were making a run to the Guadalupe Mines in San Jose, dumping some old concrete. There was this big loader and we enticed Ben to sit on it so we can take a picture ... Don't we all love heavy machinery?

Running another Marathon

Before Sonja and I had children I ran a few marathons. I had done the Silicon Valley marathon in San Jose, the Rock'n Roll in San Diego, Big Sur and the San Francisco marathon. Then our two boys came, work somehow got more busy and the time to train for a marathon wasn't quite there anymore. And to be honest, I sort of lacked the drive to go out 4-6 times a week and run a lot of miles. I have decided to change that now and run again. Other people can do it, so I should be able to do it as well. It's just really good to be in a good shape and just be able to go out and run 10 or 15 miles without suffering. I signed up for my second Silicon Valley Marathon in San Jose which will be held November 4th.

I bought a new pair of running shoes and have already started running again. And I started planning/searching for routes to run. There is now a handful of web sites that let users draw routes on maps (Google Earth let's you do it as well). I have tried the USATF web site and walkjogrun.net and they work reasonably well. I already planned a 15 and an 18 mile run for later in my training plan. Let's see how that goes. Anyone interested in joining?

My first 6 weeks @ Google

Tomorrow I will have completed my first six weeks at Google and I have to say I love it. I work on a very interesting project that has nothing to do with JavaScript. The food is as good or better than I expected and I haven't grown tired of it yet. So far I have managed to avoid the Google 15, the (apparently) average number of pounds new employees gain because of the abundance of food. And I have reduced my coffee consumption significantly, which should work out for me well in the long run. Compared to Yahoo! which features staffed espresso bars I now have to make my own espresso drink and more often than not I pass on coffee altogether. And in the spirit of getting/staying healthy, I decided to pick up running again and try for another marathon but more on that in another post. Anyway, Google is pretty cool, so far I have no regrets leaving Yahoo! And, drinking Koolaid once an hour isn't really that bad ...

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 7: Another plan change ...

and a ladder
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

This one is for the ladder leading up to the platform. The original plan called for something very steep (vertical) which wasn't suitable for our 2-year old. So I changed it and build a ladder/stairs. Works well and it gave me a good reason to finally get a table saw. What can I say, I love power tools.

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 6: Getting crowded ...

it's solid
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

OK, here we go, nearing completion. Installed the 12' long 4x6 swing beam which will hold one swing on either side. The swings are ordered and will be installed as soon as I get them.

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 5: Every once in a while ...

getting closer ...
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

... it is a good idea to look at the plan again. But so far so good, got hte basic structure up and the slide installed. The boys already did a test run and it works great.

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 4: More help ...

you can't do it without help
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

After I built the two sides it was time to assemble the basic structure. After that, a bunch of 2x4s needed to be cut. To make hauling wood back and forth easier on my old back I recruited my two boys again. They were very eager to help. And it was much easier to keep them busy this way and away from the tools ...

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 3: Almost Done ...

Look, almost done
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

... well, not quite but in the picture you can see the first of two sides. The plan calls for 6 4x4 redwood posts set in concrete. I slightly modified that. INstead of putting them in conrete (which makes the whole thing unmoveable), the whole structure rests on pressure-treated 4x4s. I know, I know, you shouldn't expose kids to pressure treated stuff but no worries, they will be covered. Anyway, that pressure treated 4x4s are then anchored in the ground using big construction stakes (scary looking nails (3/4 " thick and 3 feet long). That thing ain't going anywhere...

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 2: Find a site and hire helpers

Jonas hard at work
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

After we got the pile of wood we now need to figure out where to put it. Oh yeah, and hire help. We recruit from our own family. Even though Jonas doesn't quite know the difference between centimeters and inches, he more than makes up for it by being big and strong (for a 2-year old).

Now that we leveled the site, we can start building the structure. The plan for it I bought on the Web. Makes it much simpler than trying to guess the dimensions from just a picture. Plan was cheap too, only $14 and it gives you the list of things to get (pile of wood, etc.).

In-Between-Jobs-Project, Part 1: A pile of wood

A pile of wood
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

You may (or may not) remember that I did a little post-IBM project between my jobs at IBM and Yahoo!. This time I am not redoing a bathroom. before starting to work at Google I decided to do something nice for my two boys. I bought a pile of wood and turned it into a playstructure.

My new job ...

... will be at the best company to work for in 2006, according to Forbes Magazine. Yes, you guessed right, it is Google. I am leaving Yahoo after 16 months and will be heading over to Google in a couple of weeks. I have my last day at Yahoo! on Wednesday, will then take some time off to build a play structure in the backyard for my two boys and then show up at Google towards the end of the month. It was an interesting time at Yahoo! but hasn't quite matched my expectations. I am pretty fired up about joining Google and will let you know how it goes ...

Go Sharks!

The guy in the picture is my buddy Chris at the Shark Tank, home of the San Jose Sharks. We have been enjoying a 10-game plan and it was the last regular season game. Although it was fan appreciation day and they were handing out prizes left and right, we didn't win anything. The game was pretty exciting, although the Sharks lost in overtime. But the good thing is, they qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Can't wait to go to the next game.

An Inconvenient Truth

If you haven't already, go watch it. It's Al Gore's documentary about Global Warming and I think it's very well made. Watching it leaves you with this feeling of sadness and depression. I hope as many people as possible get to watch this and maybe start worrying about it so that eventually a politician with an interest in the environment and its protection gets to be the president of the United States. Oh yeah, and tonight, I hope Al Gore wins the Oscar for his film. That would be well-deserved and add extra publicity to his cause. Hopefully, there are not too many oil companies sponsoring the academy awards.

And if you really think about it, there is so much we can do. But as long as the government doesn't promote alternative fuel/energy the people are unlikely to change here in the U.S. unless it hurts or helps their wallets. So make alternative fuel cheaper by subsidizing it. Pay half the cost for solar electricity and require every new house built to have some form of alternative energy usage, whether it is using solar to heat water or produce electricity. Just like Al says, we have the technology, let's use it.

What I do at Yahoo!

What I do at Yahoo!
Originally uploaded by jmeyer.

Here is a screenshot of what I have worked on at Yahoo over the past 12 months. It's called Contextual Shortcuts and it's running as part of Yahoo! Mail. As of today, you will have to use the old style interface, we are hoping to add it to the new Yahoo! Mail Beta sometime this year.

You can read about what it is in the Yahoo! Mail help pages in the Shortcuts section.

The system has many parts to it but in short the Contextual Shortcuts platform tries to indentify interesting and relevant pieces of text and then offer you an in-place user experience that is appropriate for the detected item. For example, if we detect an address, we will show you a map and let you add it to your address book. If we find the name of a place (e.g., New York City) we offer you Search results and a map. All of this without requiring the user to leave their current context (that's one of the reasons we named it Contextual Shortcuts).

We are adding more features and improving detection right now and if all goes well you will see this elsewhere too. Wish us luck.

Back to the roots - another name story

I started this blog a while ago because I thought I'd share my experiences using my first name here in the U.S., especially in coffee shops. Now, that doesn't happen that often anymore, simply because I now get my caffeine fix at work. One of the more enjoyable benefits at Yahoo! is the free coffee. We have fully staffed espresso bars where you can get everything from a simple espresso to something more complex like Low Fat Sugar Free Vanilla Half Decaf Latte with Extra Foam. Personally, I'd like to outlaw the latter but unfortunately I don't have a lot of say in this. Anyhow, the name problem in coffee shops went away but one problem that still lingers is the email problem. The email problem is this. I sent someone an email and end it with the line

-Joerg

Clearly, I don't know how to spell my own name because a large number of people (especially first timers) will start their reply with Jeorg. Drives me nuts. Makes me wnat to butcher their name too. Now how hard is it to get Joerg right? It's only five letters and only 4 if you were to use the proper umlaut ö. Do people not proof read? One thing everyone should do is to at least get the name right. But maybe that's too much to ask.

Super Bowl XLI, the Inverted TiVo Experience

Everyone always talks about the Superbowl ads and how great they are. So I programmed my TiVo (it's really a Comcast DVR but everyone knows what TiVo is) to tape (oh excuse me, record) the Superbowl, all 4 hours and 5 minutes of the broadcast. And as I was watching the Superbowl yesterday it dawned on me that A Superbowl TiVo recording is probably one of the only shows, if not hte only, that people fast-forward through, just to get to the commercials. In a way, it's inverted TiVo. Kind of odd, isn't it. Oh and by the way, most ads were rather boring, except for the Bud commercials. They are mostly funny or cute but the beer still sucks. With that, congrats to the Colts and too bad for the Bears. At least Rex Grossmann lived up to the very low expectations that compared him to one of the worst quarterbacks in SuperBowl history, even before the game had started.