Cupcake Royale Has Raspberry Cupcakes

Yes, for a limited time, the best cupcakes in town now come in raspberry. From a recent newsletter:

We're proud to introduce our latest specialty flavor, Raspberry. With real raspberry jam mixed into the delicious batter, it's a flavorful thing to start with. Once we get done topping it with our cream cheese frosting and add a delectable raspberry gummy topper, it's everything a cupcake should be. It's only around for a limited time, so come on in now!

Run, don't walk - they said limited time!

American Apparel Makes Most Boring Men's Clothes That I've Ever Seen

American Apparel stores have been popping up around Seattle. You know, those vertically-integrated L.A. manufacturers of clothing, made in the U.S.A. and and all? So I tried to give them a couple of honest chances. But after my second visit to the store this weekend, I'm convinced: their men's clothes just blow.

When you wade through the ads, the mission statements, and the half-naked women on their billboards, American Apparel's design tenets are simplicity, solid colors, and a bit of retro 80's thrown in to the mix. Their mannequins often feature tall socks with a solid stripe near the cuff, solid shorts, tanks, armbands, and other clothing befitting a young John McEnroe. Walk through their entire men's collection, however, and you see a lot of common things:

• Solid colors everywhere. Take a design, like a shirt, and make 30 solid versions of it, each with a different color.
• Thin, thin cotton. As in practically see-through T-shirts. Do we in the U.S.A. have inferior cotton or something?
  
• Uninventive patterns. The entire men's line that I perused contained nothing that caught my eye as interesting or different. Standard-issue-looking T-shirts, shorts, pullovers, sweats, and the like is all they have for guys.
  
• Price. For a friggin thin T-Shirt, solid color, no print, $20 is excessive.

I soon felt like I was in a life-size, overpriced Lego outfitter. Hey, here's a red solid T. Over here, a bright yellow coat. Wow, a neon green cap! Let's go a climb in that toy bulldozer and dig up some Lego dirt!

I feel bad calling American Apparel boring. Their whole "made in the USA" shtick seems genuine, and I don't want to slam those who aren't outsourcing their manufacturing to sweatshops. But, come on AA, can you get crackin' on some more interesting designs? Right now Target and K-Mart have you beat in that department, sad to say.

For Those Too Lazy To Fill Their Ice Cube Trays

Don't have time to fill your ice cube trays with water? Scared that your water contains a flurry of dangerous viruses? Well, just for you, there's Ice Rocks! From the Web site:

ICE ROCKS® are secured ice cubes made from spring water and ready to be frozen. These cubes, to be consumed within two (2) years, are hermetically packaged in disposable, recyclable containers, providing the user with a complete guarantee with regard to hygiene and safety, while respecting the environment. ICE ROCKS® uses a patented technology, providing a container of refreshing ice cubes that are pure and hygienic.

I had to blink a few times to believe what I was reading:

• They're taking spring water
• They're putting it in trays
• They're sealing the trays
• They're selling them to people, so that those people can unseal them and put them in the freezer.

Pretty silly, right? I think the folks at Ice Rocks thought about that, so they put up some scare tactics on their Web site, claiming that water in some nations is contaminated with disease and such. OK, reality check:

• Nearly all of the water in the Western world is safe to drink, from the perspective of not containing disease like hepatitis, malaria, and cholera.
• If and when people travel to Third World nations, chances are places that have ice cubes are drawing the water from a purified source (say, bottled water). Think hotel and resort here.
• And, if you are in a Third World country and you're not sitting beside some pool inside some walled-up resort within reach of some bottled water for your ice cubes, what in the hell are you doing looking for some ice cubes for your Scotch?

I'm really hoping this is a joke. I'm waiting for the clown to jump out from behind the curtain and honk his horn and dance. I fear I'm wrong.

Pug Puppies Are The Cutest

And here is proof:

Project Runway Season 3

So the next season of Project Runway has begun.

Hold on, you're probably wondering why I'm blogging about a reality TV show, given I've waxed poetic in the past about how awful reality TV is. Well, in general, it still is. But every statement has an exception, right?

Project Runway is interesting to me for two reasons:

• It's about designing and making clothes, which is something I have absolutely no experience in and is something that I'm amazed that people can do. Under time pressures and with artificial constraints, even.
• It's got fun characters and drama to it. Yes, of course these are characters. The people behind them are real and have personalities, but like any reality TV show, the producers want to have characters and conflicts and such and guide the show, the people, and the editors to follow suit.

So, anyway, the next season of Project Runway has begun. What's different and new about this season? By the first show's accounts, not too much (at least not yet). I'm a bit sad there's no clear Santino Rice equivalent, which essentially means there's no crazy character whose designs are usually out on a limb and tick off most of the judges. On the plus side, there's a guy from Atlanta who most of us in the group that watch every Wednesday are rooting for (since, well...a lot of us are from Atlanta).

Seattle is apparently Project Runway's biggest market. We'll see how the third season holds our interest.

The Internet Is Made Of Tubes!

What I learned from Ted Stevens, Senator from Alaska, regarding the Internet:

1. It's made from a series of tubes.
2. You can send "an internet" to people.
3. It's not a truck.

In all seriousness, this goes to show you that explaining how technology works isn't always easy. Too bad this difficulty had to be seen in a public forum, and too bad Ted didn't do a little research on how the Internet actually works beforehand.

Chez Gaudy Is A Great Place To Have A Birthday

So yes, last Saturday was indeed my birthday (and no, you don't have to shower me with belated wishes). To celebrate the occasion, we decided to organize a group to go out and celebrate.

My first idea was to go to a Greek place. "Hey, I'm Greek," I thought, "so I should celebrate at a Greek restaurant." So we called Vios, but unfortunately they were booked up for a private party. Then, I started to think more open-mindedly. "What's a good place that has good food and drinks, and can hold a 12-top (and is in the neighborhood)? After a few more brainstorms we landed on Chez Gaudy. And, as you're about to see, we're really glad that we did.

We've been to Chez a couple of times, and liked our experience there each time we went. Chez is a relatively new offshoot of Bleu Bistro up on Broadway, with a bit more Italian bent to the food, and more of an antique-wood look to their interior (not to mention more space for more seating). Chez has a lot of similar drinks as Bleu Bistro does, and an atmosphere of quirky friendliness pervades both establishments.

So we made reservations for Saturday night at 7:00pm. Our guest list was varying in size a bit, but the folks at Chez were very forgiving. "Your table can seat about twelve, and it's fine if you have fewer than that."

We start trickling in at 7 and sitting at a large table right near the entrance. Once most of us have arrived, we start ordering drinks (Black Velvet, Gin Fizz, a bottle of Moltepulciano wine, and so on). Our waitress, Erika, was very attentive and casual at the same time. No worries of people arriving in waves and the like. She made good drink recommendations for those who hadn't been to Chez before, and most everyone was pleased with the results.

Soon after, we order a cheese plate appetizer. This thing was amazing; it housed about 6 different types of cheeses, and had some cheddar I've ever eaten (it was flavored with horseradish). Plus, the bread included several rounds of strawberry butter.

Then, it was on to the entrees. The popular choices included veggie meatballs and a cheesy baked ravioli plate. As you can imagine with my circle of friends, the vegetable meatballs were the humor highlight of the evening (in other words, insert ball joke here). A flamed cheese dish was also ordered, which included a lighting right at the table (and, when you light cheese on fire in front of a Greek, you're going to get an "Opa!" in return).

As we were rounding up our meals, someone said "Hey, George is Greek - you should bring him some ouzo!". Erika checked and they didn't have ouzo, but they brought me a birthday drink on the house, comprised of coffee, Frangelico, and some cinnamon. It was quite tasty! After that, the entire table got a round of birthday shots. The exact contents were a mystery, courtesy of the bartender, but chocolate and coffee tastes were paramount. My glass was larger and contain whipped cream above the drink, given I was the birthday boy and all.

Finally, as if that wasn't enough, the folks at Chez brought out an entire trifle for dessert, also flamed at the table. This was also on the house! Everyone got a healthy helping of the creamy, cakey trifle to round out the meal.

Overall we stayed at Chez for about three to four hours and had a terrific time. Plates were broken (by Erika, not us!), things were set on fire, lots of drinks and food were had, and a great dessert topped off the evening. Thanks to Erika and the whole staff at Chez Gaudy on Saturday night for a memorable night. You all went above and beyond to ensure we had a great time, and did so with flair and ease.

Technology

Here's a post that will link to posts I've written than have to do with technology. I'll link to it from the home page, and update it as I write more.

• Seattle Fire Department Ignores Web Accessibility
• How We Ship Office And Windows
• Always Documenting, Never Reading
• MySpace: Where HTML Finds Its (Questionable) Roots
• Bad Usability: Brookstone Bedroom Clock