Dear Dustin Curtis

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I agree with you; American Airlines’ site is sorely in need of a redesign.  I thought your mockups were very clean and professional-looking.  I also understand their response – as a Senior Web Designer of a large corporation, I know very well that it takes a long time for changes to go into effect.  There are many chains in the approval process.
I just have one critique for you, however.  On your site, you have your link color set as #cecccc, which is a very soft gray.  Against a white background, this makes your links very hard to read.  Here is what #cecccc looks like:

This sentence is a bit hard to read, isn’t it?

Other than that, keep up the great work.

Best,
Kathryn Hill

An open letter to Japan

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

Dear Japan,

Just because something exists doesn’t mean you should make ice cream from it. Seriously, Squid Guts Ice Cream? Poisonous Viper Ice Cream? Ox Tongue Ice Cream? The world can exist without these.

Thank you,

Kathryn

A lesson in civics

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I found out there’s a group that hosts Movie Nights on Saturdays in various locations around the SF Bay Area. I called the Film Night in the Park people to ask if they could turn on the subtitles when they show movies (they project them off a DVD) and they told me “we only only use the DVD subtitles when it’s a foreign language film or in sing alongs during the music.

I pointed out that this was an event being held on City-owned property (a public park) and it should be accessible, and they said “send us an email and I’ll pass it to the Advisory board” and then hung up on me.

I emailed Catherine Stefani, who works for the office of Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier in SF City Hall. (Alioto-Pier is disabled and is a huge advocate for the disabled.)

She responded to my email in ten minutes, which is very impressive. She said:

Thank you again Kathryn for emailing us about this. I spoke with the Film in the Park people and it seems they feel subtitles would “diminish the experience for non-deaf people.” The Supervisor will introduce a resolution about this on Tuesday to make subtitles a requirement. We’ll keep you informed.

She followed up again on Friday:

I contacted the City Attorney about this and we realized that the ordinance we passed re: closed captioning in public places already addresses this situation. I am going to call the event organizers to let them know and to make them aware of the civil and criminal penalties outlined in the legislation.

I need a better backup system

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I need a better backup system.  Currently I back up all my important data to two 300GB external hard drives; I haven’t set them up as a RAID system as I don’t know how, so while they don’t automatically mirror each other, I manually make them mirror each other by meticulously copying and pasting new items from Drive A to Drive B so I have two drives that mirror each other completely in case one fails.  I back up my Macbook using Time Machine, which is pretty easy, but that really only covers what’s on my laptop; emails and various personal files.  On the external hard drives, I have over 10 years worth of my professional photographs, including all my scanned negatives, my portfolio, personal files, and miscellaneous data that I’d be pissed off about losing.

As one can imagine, my current method of backing up is tedious.  Obviously there’s a better way to do this, so please let me know.  However, apart from learning how to back up more efficiently, I also need a way to remotely back up my data.  Even though I have things mirrored on two external hard drives, this doesn’t protect my data in the event of a natural disaster, theft, acts of God, catastrophe, etc.  I’d love a way to mirror my data on another hard drive that’s preferably 3000 miles away at my mother’s house in Georgia, but I don’t know how.  Is such a thing possible?  What do I need?

Help me, Obi-Lazy-Kenowebi.  You are my only hope.

Paphiopedilum liemianum

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I have a collection of 12 orchids. Currently, my Paphiopedilum liemianum is blooming.

Paphiopedilum liemianum slipper orchid

No wonder airlines are going bankrupt

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I’m going on vacation in the Caribbean in June and was recently looking at schedules and prices on united.com and this itinerary just boggles me.  I’m flying from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  One would think that would be a direct, nonstop flight, right?  Not so!  Apparently, United wants to send me from Fort Lauderdale to Charlotte, NC, and then change planes and fly from Charlotte to Philadelphia, PA, and then change planes and fly from Philadelphia to San Juan.  I don’t even want to think about the carbon emissions that this trip causes.

United's stupid and wasteful itinerary from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan

In which I clutch my head like a stunted monkey

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

“Right now more people have voted for me than have voted for my opponent,” Mrs. Clinton said, without explaining how she reached that arithmetic certainty. “More people have voted for me than anybody who’s ever run for president before.”

Hillary Clinton

Creme Brulee

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

I wrote a post on The Kitchn today about how to get the perfect caramelized top on creme brulee.  Enjoy!

Closed Captioning FAIL

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

closed captioning blooper

Farmer’s Market/Safeway price compare – small example

Listen to this as a podcast: Subscribe to the Odiogo podcast.

During my lunch break today, I popped over to the Crocker Galleria Farmer’s Market to pick up some potatoes and leeks for the nettle soup I am making this evening. I bumped into some coworkers having lunch there, and it came up in conversation that one of them thought the farmer’s market was too expensive, and that he preferred to shop at Safeway as he thought it was cheaper. When I got back to the office, I looked up the prices on Safeway.com and sent him the following email:

Making nettle soup tonight, so all I needed was potatoes and leeks, but here’s how the prices compare:

Farmer’s Market:
4 lbs organic Yukon Golds – $4
2 large organic leeks – $2
Tax – $0
Total: $6

Safeway:
4 lbs Yukon Golds: $7.98
2 leeks: $5.98
Tax – $1.19
Total: $15.15

Packaged goods like cheese, olive oil, smoked fish, etc tend to be expensive, but produce is quite often dirt-cheap. Prices on breads/baked goods, eggs, and apple cider vary from market to market but aren’t too outrageous.