Impulse » Pure drivel

OC Quattro nearing finish of RAAM 2009

Rob McKaughan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:59:06 +0000

Team OC Quattro, the team I filmed three years ago for my documentary, will be crossing the finish line again in the Race Across America 2009. They’re currently in third place, and have maintained an average speed of 19 MPH (and that includes the Rockies & Appalachia!). Not only that, they’ve raised over $100,000 for their charities. By the time I wake up tomorrow, they’ll be celebrating their finish (probably by going to sleep!).

I’m psyched that they’re doing so well, and really wish I could be there with them. Congratulations to the team & crew!

I am powered by Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rob McKaughan — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:08:14 +0000

I’m convinced that I run on chocolate chip cookies. In the last two weeks, there have been a number of times when I felt unproductive, slow, moody, ill. Each of those times that I then had a chocolate chip cookie, I soon became happy, productive, and loving life.

Proof positive that cookies make Robs go. If I donated blood, it’d probably be 65% cacao.

(And yes, earlier today, I did the calculation of how many cookies I would have if I were paid in cookies instead of dollars (market resources report that the cookie is up vs the dollar and euro in late trading today)). (photo by wenday )

Sunshine in Seattle

Rob McKaughan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:20:57 +0000

Not!

I’ve heard that New Zealand looks very similar to the Pacific Northwest. I think someone took that too literally. Here we are, one week from summer, and we have the same weather as the Kiwis have one week before their winter.

I’m glad I have a good winter coat to enjoy this summer in!

Update: Not looking much better. Flights from Seattle to Auckland start at $2044. Hmm…

Buck Rogers!

Rob McKaughan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:59:33 +0000

Just had to try this out. Here, for your viewing pleasure, episode 15 of season 1 of the 80’s smash hit TV show Buck Rogers. Shoulder pads from the future!

Yes, I had a huge crush on Erin Grey…

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Only on the Internet

Rob McKaughan — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:00:42 +0000

I just spent three hours surfing the net, looking at watches I couldn’t possibly afford. Let me repeat that: three hours looking at products I’ll never buy…

Well, it’s better than TV, anyway.

(Shown here, the gorgeous Langematik-Perpetual by A. Lange & Söhne. It can be yours for a mere $55,000).

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Magically rebelling against religious dictatorship

Rob McKaughan — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:09:42 +0000

Saw this pop up today on Facebook as the top books we in Seattle are reading. Intriguing when taken as a collection. A strong thread of political oppression with victorious heroes (Harry Potter), and heroes crushed by the machine (1984). Adolescent boys striking out on their own — Catcher & Potter. Apparently we are longing for supernatural activity and fixated on conspiracies as well.

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German is cool

Rob McKaughan — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:48:36 +0000

In English, we say things like “the president annoys me”. Now, be honest — that’s not really true. Someone else can’t inflict annoyance upon you; you allow yourself to become annoyed in response to someone. That’s why you can choose to ignore it (though in some specific cases, it takes a lot of effort).
In German, we say “Ich Ã¤rgere mich Ã¼ber dem PrÃ¤sident”. It’s a reflexive verb, thus, litterally translated, it means “I annoy myself about the president”.
Ain’t that the truth…
Update: Fixed the grammar… German may be cool, but it’s hard. Who ever heard of having to conjugate nouns???

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Tunes, widgets, and last.fm

Rob McKaughan — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:46:39 +0000

I’ve succumbed to the widget fad. In the sidebar, you’ll find some last.fm widgets for your listening pleasure. These allow you to see and listen to whatever music I’ve been listening to this week. Why? Umm… because I can… Because I’ve never put a widget on this blog before… Because I keep finding great music I want to share, really. A mix of vanity & goodwill, perhaps.

For those of you who haven’t heard of last.fm — it is my latest obsession. It’s a customized internet radio station — as you listen to more music, it remembers what you’ve listened to and uses that information to recommend other music. Over time, it gets frighteningly good at recommending interesting music that I’ve never heard of. For example, right this second, it’s playing “Glomb” by Koop from the album Sons of Koop. I’ve never heard of Koop and I never asked for it — but I really really like it. It’s a bit like Gotan Project — which I listen to quite frequently and is probably why last.fm decided to play it for me.
It’s like getting an intravenous feed of pure newness.
Update: I made a few HTML tweaks so that the two widgets look like a single one. (Geek!)

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Ahh, the American Dream

Rob McKaughan — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:08:45 +0000

Overture has an interesting tool I’ve been using for some market analysis I’m doing for a startup. You type search keywords into it and it tells you how many people searched for those keywords on Yahoo last month. It also gives you a ranked list of related searches. So, in need of a little break, I decided to type in something really general to see what it would come up with. I entered “house”:
Here’s what people are scouring the internet for using the word “house”:

#1: new house (401k searches)
#2: steak house (370k searches)

We may have the internet, but some things never change…

Technology and democracy hand in hand

Good morning Seattle!

Rob McKaughan — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:29:41 +0000

My video camera had been sitting in it’s box for several months, so I decided that it was time to bust it out and fiddle about with time-lapse a bit. It’s just a typical morning at Casa Roberto.

Dig that animated pan. Eat your heart out Harryhausen!
Anyway.… I’m back in Seattle with no travel plans for a while. It’s really nice being able to get up in the morning and not have to check when my next flight is.