We had some serious snow overnight. It was so wet that the flakes were sticking together in midair - it looked like it was raining snowballs. I made a video of it, but it doesn't quite capture how cool it was.

Snow Shower

  Citysearch is running their "Best of Citysearch 2006" voting, and Blackbird has been nominated in a number of categories. If you are so inclined, we would love to have your votes! Click the categories below to see the competitors and vote. Thanks!

Best Men's Clothing

Best Shoes

Best Jeans

Best Accessories

Best Jewelry

  No time to read a long blog entry? Fishsuit MiniBitez are the perfect treat for your workaday lifestyle! Pack a few in your purse or backpack, and off you go!

Design Goals
"Our goal was to come up with a machine that moms would want — easy to use, quick to start up, not a huge energy drain, and quiet while it was running."
- Nintendo game guru Shigeru Miyamoto, on the Nintendo Wii

The Big Ideas Behind Nintendo's Wii

That sounds like something a lot of people should want, whether they're a mom or not. It's nice to see a computer product whose goals are ideas and not technical specs. This is more evidence that Nintento is on the right track.



Why Do We Need Design, Anyway?
"I frequently argue that it is the job of the software designer to make choices on behalf of the user. That's what designing is all about."
- Arno Gourdol

The Design of the Mac OS X Shutdown Feature

The designer should be a filter, not a funnel. I think this is a good insight. (In fact, a similar point was made to me by Nicole when we got engaged. I suggested that we design our own wedding rings; her response was, roughly, "We'll probably get better rings if they are designed by someone who actually knows what they are doing." She wasn't as nice about it, though.)



MiniBites Fotoz
Click for a larger view.


Here's what I saw when I got to my car this morning. What is this, North Dakota?

All bundled up and looking like a fashion model.

  Here's an interesting article about the new round of video game console wars. As a fan of the brilliant Nintendo DS Lite, I think that Sony and Microsoft are on the wrong track. The XBox 360 and Playstation 3 bring a lot of firepower to the table, but it doesn't necessarily mean the games will be any better. The author of this article suggests that Sony & Microsoft's business might not be any better either, and that Nintendo may be best positioned to make money with the Wii.

In Praise of Third Place

  For the second straight evening, there has been snow in Seattle. Last night it was pretty warm, so the snow was very wet and melted really quickly. Tonight it's a little colder - I fear traffic tomorrow morning.

As far as we know, this is the first time Sofia has ever seen snow. I would describe her reaction as "Terrified Amusement". When she sees the snow out the window, she puts her hands on her head and says "Oh no!" Then she gets a concerned look on her face, gives a crazy laugh, and says "Snow!", and smiles. Then she waves at the snow. Here's a short movie to demonstrate:

Snow!


Here are a couple of pictures. (Click them to see a larger view.)

Last night:

Tonight:

UPDATE (11/28/06): The weather did get worse, and Seattle was partially shut down all day. Sofia's day care didn't open until 10 AM and closed at 3:30 PM, so she and I had a half day today. The roads around our house were fine, but things were pretty bad elsewhere, particularly east and north of Seattle.