Paprika Blog

Sign of the Times: Former Mortgage Broker now Comcast Technician

Had lunch with a colleague who was telling me about her Comcast woes (still better than AT&T or PacBell). Recently when a technician came out to troubleshoot he left his concact info. He was only recently hired and didn't have Comcast cards yet so he wrote on the back of his old card - in his former life he was a mortgage broker.

Commuting by Bike in London

This WSJ video explores the rise in bicycle commuting in London - a scary place to drive, let alone cycle! But apparently helmet hair and post-exercise body odor are the major challenges.

Tina Fey does Sarah Palin

This is great.

Single Handed Transpac Nearly Over

2 years ago Nick and I really enjoyed following along with the single handed transpac race from SF to Hawaii via the daily log updates.  This year the postion map is interactive (Google of course) and the logs are just as entertaining as last time. Many of the same characters and boats. The last boats are entering Hanalei Bay this weekend - Ruben on Sparky is crawling along with a jury-rig mast, stuck with little wind about 350 miles out. Wish him wind!

I didn't follow as closely this year, but here are the details:

• Coverage on ‘lectronic Latitude on the Single Handed Transpac and the Pacific Cup
• Log entries for the Singlehanded race
• Postion Reports (interactive Google Map)
  
• Race Entries (bios of the skippers, with pics of the boats)

16 Year Old Sailing Singlehanded Around the World

I've been following the progress of Zac Sunderland who is attempting to be the youngest person to sail around the world alone. He's just arrived in Majuro (capital of the Marshall Islands, in the South Pacific about half way from Hawaii to New Guinea).

He writes well for a young kid, is funny, and does a good job of describing sailing in lay terms. His blog is entertaining and informative. He's been sailing all his life and has cruised extensively with his family, so it's not so far-fetched. Seems to be taking all the appropriate precautions and being smart.

Check it out:

• His blog is here.
• His website is here.
• CNN video here.

SF Marathon

Today was the SF Marathon:

(photo from the SF Chronicle)

At some point I considered running it, but didn't train and have been working too much to exercise much at all let alone run a marathon. But I am wistful today, wishing I'd done it. Perhaps next year? If I get started now I should have no problem. Is this a public commitment? Perhaps. At least something to think about seriously.

More:

• SF Chronicle coverage at SFGate.com
• Website

Amazing Photo Blog

My new favorite blog is The Big Picture (from Boston.com) featuring the best in photo journalism. Widescreen, gorgoeous photos with informative captions on one topic each post.

The latest is about a new particle accelerator in Switzerland:

Other recent photo collections include:

Views of Jupiter

Beijing Preparations

A Royal Farewell in Bali

California's Continuing Fires

50 Most Influential Female Bloggers

Most of the posts I read and reference in my professional blog are written by men (I don't know why, since banking, finance, and payments aren't lacking talented women). My neglected personal blog is equally lacking when it comes to referencing blogs written by women. Sadly, my RSS reader is too. But not for long... check out this list of the 50 Most Influential Female Bloggers from NxE.

5 Great Sailing Books

Another goodie from today's Weekend Journal: Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, the first person to sail solo and nonstop around the world, offers his five favorite books about sailing.

1. The Last Grain Race
By Eric Newby
Houghton Mifflin, 1956

2. Two Years Before the Mast
By Richard Henry Dana, 1840

3. The Acts of the Apostles
circa A.D. 60

4. Sailing Alone Around the World
By Joshua Slocum, 1899

5. Last Man Across the Atlantic
By Paul Heiney, Mainstream, 2006

Descriptions of each book and why Knox-Johnson choose them are here.

Ann Patchett on Opera at the Local Cineplex

We missed the SF Opera broadcast at the ball park last night (went for a long walk out to Clement St instead) but this morning's Weekend Journal features an article by Ann Patchett about the immediacy and community of watching the NYC Metropolitan Opera live simulcasts in the local cinema. The season won't start again until September but I am intrigued. Read the article here.

And if you haven't read Ann Patchett 's book Bel Canto go to the local bookstore and get it now. If you start this afternoon, you will finish by Monday. It's breathtaking. You might want to pick up a couple opera CDs to listen as you read.