Postcards from Rome

Absolutely LARVIN Rome! Scooterboy and I have romped around for two days now and it is an indescribably amazing city. I love just wandering around all the little streets and alleys - beautiful buildings, courtyards and stunning doors everywhere!

Food has been very hit and miss so far. A recommendation from Tripadvisor, Ivo a Trastevere was only so so - good but nothing to rave about, and another recommendation we found online La Buca di Ripetta in Via di Ripetta, which was a lot more expensive than Ivo, was not particularly good. They managed to not get pasta right which must be some kind of sin in Italy... tasted like they had emptied the salt barrel into the dish (we ordered different pastas and both of us experienced salty hell). but the fish was nice enough. No standout but they didn't screw it up (hard to screw up grilled fish I guess).

However, we have found a couple of gems so far. Giolliti in Via di Uffici di Vicario is SENSATIONAL! Fantastic selection of antipasti - the grilled eggplant, red peppers, green bean salad, roast potatoes, fish with tomato sauce were brilliant! and rasonably priced. And they are famous for their gelatis - and rightly so! Absolutely delish!! I will post photos once I get home to my camera chord : )

We have also sampled a sensational prosciutto and mozarella right here in the roof garden/restaurant of our hotel. Best mozarella I've ever tasted. And the prosciutto was as good as the other of my fave prosciutto of all time, which had been shipped by friends from Spain. I'll name the hotel once I leave Rome.

So glad Scooterboy and I opted for fewer destinations but a decent spell in each destination. It's great not feeling rushed and just wander, wander, wandering down all the nooks and crannies that we chance upon. We've checked out a couple of the usual suspects sites so far but by far, the standout experience has been just walking and checking out the laneways.

Away on honeymoon

Will be gallavanting around Italia for a while. There may be a post here and there from Italy, otherwise I'll be back in a couple of weeks.

Whooo hooooooo! On the road again...........

Rest in peace

The Victims

Rome Virtual Tour

What a nifty site!

Wander around Rome.

Microsoft is dead

Interesting read from Paul Graham.

"A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo. I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?

Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite believe anyone would be frightened of them.

Microsoft cast a shadow over the software world for almost 20 years starting in the late 80s. I can remember when it was IBM before them. I mostly ignored this shadow. I never used Microsoft software, so it only affected me indirectly—for example, in the spam I got from botnets. And because I wasn't paying attention, I didn't notice when the shadow disappeared.

But it's gone now. I can sense that. No one is even afraid of Microsoft anymore. They still make a lot of money—so does IBM, for that matter. But they're not dangerous."

Click here for more.

Sunset

Hey Scooterboy. This one's for you :*

Book store disappointment

So, our very own embarrasment-of-a-whackjob-red-neck recently released a book and of course, she had to wheedle some sex into the trash for sensationalism.... and of course, the Shitty 3 (Channel 7, 9, 10 - commercial tv stations in Oz with pathetic standards for news and current affairs coverage), lapped it up and reported the too-much-information-who-gives-a-shit-anyway trash on the news.

After some investigating, I discovered that several of the major book stores in Australia have organised book signings for the trash (as listed on the whackjob's site - which I won't link to). Here ends all purchases by me from Borders (already on my blacklist for other reasons), Angus & Robertson and Dymocks.

I'm fine with book stores stocking her book but arranging a book signing is altogether a very different thing.

My book shopping will now be confined to Readings, Reader's Feast, Amazon, and Booktopia.com.au

Starbucks Cranks Up The Evil

Heh heh

Coffee behemoth pushes music label, hopes to pummel nation to death, pleasantly

"Starbucks has good mints.

I like their little portable $2 tins of tiny, strong peppermints and I can often be seen dashing furtively into one of the crowded soul-numbing little outlets to pick up another box, and the cashiers/baristas look at me strangely as if to say, Wait, what? That's it? That's all you want to buy? You mean you don't want a double-caramel-cheesecake-eggnog candy-coated triple-whipped white chocolate grande mocha with extra corn syrup solids and glops of mysterious grainy residue at the bottom for $17?

It's a look that says: You don't want to perhaps buy a Starbucks-branded pink plastic travel mug? Starbucks bottled water? T-shirt? Apron? Muffler? Waffle maker? Cute Vietnamese toddler? You are not fully partaking of the overall megalomaniacal Starbucks lifestyle brand? What, pray tell, is wrong with you?"

Click above for full article.

Stay hungry, stay foolish

I've only just found the video of my favourite speech of all time. I've read it so many times and had no idea video footage was available on YouTube!