Once it's outside, does it need to be "customers only"?

Sign outside a Vietnamese restaurant up at Kearny x Washington. It wouldn't be funny if not tied to a bright orange bucket with a grimy residue at the bottom that you don't quite want to identify.

Do you know how your Keyguard works?

The firm got whiff of a tasty opportunity, so an all-attorney email was sent out to see if we could capitalize on it:

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxxx, xxxxx
To: DC - All Attys; NY - All Attys.; FW - All Attys.
Sent: Mon Mar 12 11:44:48 2007
Subject: "World Bank lawyer" wanted for "Prize Capital Initiative" legal work--corporate

A client is interested in hiring a lawyer to represent his interests in setting up a fund and emerging company generator using World Bank and matching funds for technological innovations that will generate global health and environmental benefits and will spin off companies on the IP developed. Others involved are Paul Allen, Sergei Brin and Richard Branson. So it’s a potentially interesting engagement.

Please advise if we can identify such a World Bank person or identify a volunteer for that position please advise.

xxxxxx xxxxxx

Not 3 minutes later, an email from one of my distinguished junior colleagues:

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx, xxxx
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 10:11 AM
To: DC - All Attys; NY - All Attys.; FW - All Attys.
Subject: Re: "World Bank lawyer" wanted for "Prize Capital Initiative" legal work--corporate

LlllLlllllLllllLllllllLlLllllllllllllllLLlLLllllllllPlLlPlPlLlLlllLlPOPppoPPooooOOoooooooOOooooooOOOoPOOoiOOOOoOOOOOOooO

xxxx xxxxx

-------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Device

I have no commentary on this. I just pop open the email (and the Recall request that came 10 minutes later) whenever I need a good laugh.

Discount Camera is neither discount nor a camera - discuss.

I stupidly forgot to order a UV filter for the 55mm f/1.4 Nikon lens I got yesterday, so I set out to some of the camera stores in the neighborhood to see if I could find one that would do the job. Discount Camera is 2 blocks from here, so even though the Yelp reviews are almost universally - and usefully - negative, I check it out anyway. It's a filter, not a lens or a memory card or a camera, how bad could it be?

I walk in, say I need a 52mm filter, and a half-second later I'm looking at a bill of sale. Umm, how much is it? "$19.99, I can get you into a high-end brand for $5 more." I squint at the packaging. I'm no photography expert, but filters I saw online started at about $9. And those were Tiffen or Hoya, not Sunpak. Why the price discrepancy? "These are glass. No cheap plastic ones here. We only sell high-quality." What about this $9 Tiffen one I see advertised everywhere? "Tiffen makes some glass filters, some plastic filters." Nice dodge. Introduce uncertainty into what it was I got the price quote on, exactly, without actually lying about anything. I have to think about it a little more... and like the Yelp reviewers say, the guy literally snatches the thing out of my hand, and makes a big show of ripping up the bill of sale and tossing it away.

I guess he already knew I won't come back after I do my homework.

Needless to say, on Amazon, the $19.99 and $24.99 filters comes in at $9.99 at Adorama, the Hoya $11.99. Over 100% markup. Like the Yelp reviewers, I'm happy to support local business. I pay a premium to do it, and in SF a premium is a premium. But the choice isn't between buying cheap online or buying expensive from rude jerks - that isn't a choice at all. It's between buying cheap online or buying expensive from people that are genuinely passionate about what they do and provide quality goods, or at least will be honest when you're sacrificing quality for cost.

The Killers 4/7/2007 at Bill Graham Civic

They didn't last long, but tickets were re-released through LiveNation yesterday, and I managed to pick up 2 after I sat on my hands for the first release.

Now I actually have to listen to the rest of the album, and stop listening to the singles so I won't be sick of them by the time the concert comes around.

seven word movie review: 300

Cheesiest possible dialogue, but severed limbs abound.

My first Nikon lens

I'm a total punter at photography, but I picked up a D50 digital SLR for my bar trip to Asia last summer and haven't regretted it since. It's easy, it's fun, and the pictures come out looking amazing with very little effort.

So begins the slippery slope. I started out with a 18mm- 00mm Sigma f/3.5-5.6, which worked great for the trip but suffers in low light. The day I was at 西湖 in 杭州 it was terribly overcast and most of the pictures came out dim. Well I'm waiting to be able to afford some kind of f/2.8 superzoom, I decided to try and find something that'll get great pictures in low-light. And a bonus if it's an actual Nikon lens.

Enter my first real Nikon lens, a Nikon 55mm f/1.4D prime. After hunting around on Ebay for a few weeks, and seeing used lenses going for reputable sellers around $260 + shipping, I opted to spring the $20 extra it cost on Amazon (at the time - it since went up to $329) for a brand-spanking new one. I can't wait to get this thing out and see what it can do.