zhasper.com

just.... Absent. I'm in Mountain View, having the company brain slug fitted. I'll be back in Aus in a while.

In the last day, I've stood in front of Facebook, seen company shuttle busses for Apple, NASA, Yahoo, Citrix, and of course my
own.

But, right now I'm tired and overdue for bed. G'night!

Ps. Can you guess what's special about this post?

I sent this email:

> I'm currently using the username zhasper_
>
> This is because, at some point, I signed up with the username zhasper. I don't
> know what email address I used for this username, and I have no idea what my
> password was. As a result, I've not logged in since just after I created the
> account.
>
> Is it possible for you to send a password reminder/reset email to the email
> address associated with the account zhasper, if their is one?

Their response:

Hi,

The email you used to sign up with is the one you have just used to contact
me.

I have also reset your password.

It is now: xxxxxxxx

Feel free to change it once you log back in.

After some prodding and poking and trying to understand what I was doing wrong, I realised what was going on, so sent this response:

Hi.

You've reset the password for zhasper_, the account that I already
knew the pasword too, that I have no problem accessing.

I was asking about the account zhasper - note the lack of underscore.

Thanks!

This morning, I get this response:

Hi,

New Password: xxxxxxx

Guess which account had its password reset?

I'm narky now.

You've reset zhasper_ again. I'm not having problems with that
account. Try again.

Lets see if they get it right this time.

Some photos I've taken recently. All available over on flickr

Yes, they move doghouses. You either know what this is about, or you don't.

This was in the inflight magazine on the flight.

Full text reads:

Without a Net?
Google has made a major breakthrough with web applications such as its free online word processor and spreadsheet. User's(sic) had complained that although they worked well, they only worked online. Google now has a way to make them work without an internet connection. www.google.com.au

They're kinda right - they're referring to Gears, of course. It's a pity the only company with a public release demonstrating using Gears for word processing is Zoho, a competitor of Google's.....

Screens are currently showing the DriverCam view. Just to my right, there's a series of screens down the aisle, a la many planes.

The longer distance trains have screens on the back of the seat in front, with a choice of 5 movie/entertainment channels and ~8 radio channels. This model just has the radio.

Queensland trains rock.

LolKitties for Christ. Nuff said.

Only in Brisneyland do you need, not just a sign warning you of the "Automatic Escalator", but instructions on how to use same.

Seen outside a cheap hotel:

As opposed to internet that gets switched off between 10pm and 6am, so that our guest s can get a good night's sleep

Because, after all, that's what you're all hanging out for, isn't it?

* New iPod range

I won't be getting one. My music collection runs to about 23Gb, and that's before I start putting in the videos I want to carry with me (and might watch on an iPod). Unless it can hold my entire collection, it can't replace my existing 30Gb model. Unless it can have the same tiny form-factor, ruggedness, and shock-resistance as my shuffle (gumstick model of course, not the clippy model that I hate), it can't replace that either.

As far as web browsing and such goes - I've got my n800 for that, and it runs a (mostly) open OS and application stack, so it's getting better all the time. Until the iPod runs a stack that's just as open, it can't replace that either. Oh yeah - and it needs an 800x600 screen, too - none of this 320x480 nonsense.

If my iPod died, at this point, I'd replace it with a Classic. Once they have sufficient capacity to hold my whole library, I'd think about it.

* Brisneyland

Rocks! I hired a bike today from Riders. I rode... wait..

Here you go - an map of what happened:

View Larger Map

Google Rocks (and I'm not just saying that because I work there :p)

My legs are bloody sore now.

Click on the "Larger version" link for notes about the legs of the trip.

The total ride was about 30km. I rode almost the entire way on bikepaths, with a few forays onto bike lanes on roads. I road across one pedestrian/bike only bridge, and another that takes busses as well.

Brisbane is really doing well at putting in the infrasctructure, especially public transport (and roads), to sustain a lot of growth. The second bridge already makes it much faster for a lot of people to use public transport than drive to uni. Likewise, the two existing busways (and the twoish more currently in production) link other places via public transport in a way that isn't subject to peak hour traffic - and thus make it faster to take public transport to those places than to drive there in peak hour.

The bike integration is good too: bikes are encouraged on ferries and trains (with limitations during peak hour), and even busses are started to be equipped with bike carriers. At West End ferry wharf, there's a shed for you to lock your bike in - an extra level of protection from the elements and from vandalism above just an average bike rack, designed for regular commuters. There were bike paths everywhere.

Integrated ticketing, and sensible zoning, make transitioning between different modes of transport painless. They're even working on integrating taxis into the rest of the public transport system, to make up for those tiny shortfalls where, say, a train line doesn't quite connect to a bus route, that only affect a few people and really aren't cost effective any other way.

I'll be moving up here just as soon as we open a Brisbane office..

* gReader

Rawks! It now tells me I have 1000+ items, instead of just 100+. And - It has search! OMFG! Rawxt! Thanks so much to the team who worked on that, whoever you are!

So, I did something today I never thought I'd do - I spent an hour or so in a Louis Vuitton store.

See, I was catching up with a friend from uni. She did an IT degree, and worked for Accenture for years, but she's decided to look for a career change - and right now, she's giving working as a manager in luxury retail a try.

The experience was amazing. The staff in the store were fully aware that she was an LV person herself, and that if we did buy anything, we'd probably be buying through her, not through them. In any normal retail salesperson-gets-paid-commision environment, I'd expect that to lead to us getting second-class treatment while the customers likely to earn the salesperson something get preference - and I'd feel that such treatment was natural. That's not what we got at Louis Vuitton though. I was wearing some daggy jeans and a cheap t-shirt, and James was wearing the same plus some thongs - so again, I'd expect that staff at such a luxury store would not expect us to be giving them much income, and would thus not pay us much attention - but again, that's not what happened. It really was an experience

First, we were offered seats at a table, so that we could be in total comfort while the salespeople showed us their wares. These weren't cheap seats either - they looked like solid antique wood, with thick, comfy cushions covered in fine leather. I'm sure they weren't as antique as they looked, but they sure were comfy... We were then offered glasses of cold water - a small concession perhaps, but it was a bit warm outside and we'd been walking in the sun, so it was very gladly received.

We were asked about what we were looking for; our guide mentioned a couple of items she wanted to show us, the staff suggested a few more, and they were fetched hence. Fetched, I say - they weren't on display. They were kept out back, in calico bags to make sure they aren't damaged in any way.

One thing that was clear was that the staff weren't just showing us some random goods their store happened to sell. They all had knowledge of the range, they had a lot of knowledge about the history of the company, and they had stories about the history of individual items - what it was inspired by, who it was designed for, when it was first sold, etc. They all had immense pride in the goods they were displaying, and the all had their favorite pieces that they owned (or aspired to own).

Even things such as the fact that the leather used in most goods will change colour, crease, scratch, and otherwise age over time was dealt with. We were shown samples demonstrating what things would look like in 20-30 years time (and even longer, in some cases) would look like, and the staff were meticulous in pointing out to us which bits would change colour (and exactly what that colour change would look like), which bits were likely to scratch, which bits were likely to crease.... they didn't do this because they were warning us about defects which constitute normal wear-and-tear - they did this because they genuinely believe that such things add personality to the goods and make them more, not less, desireable.

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that the staff didn't seem to care who sold the bags to us, as long as it was a Louis Vuitton bag that we purchased. They didn't even seem to care whether we were going to be buying today, or might just be fantasizing about things far beyond our reach - all they cared about was making sure we understood just how wonderful their merchandise was. This even extended to the fact that the local sales person we were talking explicitly said that she understood that we were likely to buy from our friend (who works in another country, not just another store) and she didn't want to steal the sale from our friend.

That floored me. I'm used to retail environments where the salespeople don't give a damn about the product their selling. I'm used to retail environments where the salespeople only care about how much commission they're going to get. Seeing a retail environment where they salespeople didn't care which salesperson, or even which store, or even which *country* got the sale, as long as I bought a Louis Vuitton bag *and* considered such a purchase money well spent - that was astonishing.

On one level, it was a very interesting intellectual exercise: looking at how a retail chain that uses "luxury" and "enduring value" as differentiators operates - it's completly different to how a similar chain that uses "cheap" and "freely available" as differentators operates. It was interesting to see how well trained the staff are, how they weren't just reciting rote lists of facts about products, but were sharing with us intimate details of what amounted to their prized possesssions. It was interesting seeing just how much time and energy is spent making the customer comfortable, finding out what the customer is looking for, and otherwise ensuring the customer has a truly memorable 'luxury' experience - even if they're not going to be buying anything today, and if they do, this store won't be seeing any of the money.

On a completely different level, there are now one Louis Vuitton laptop bag (M93032 Messenger Noir) and one wallet (M92997 org. De poche Utah) that I will be buying as soon as I can reasonably afford same, and one notebook cover (R20409 Couv. AG. Taiga Ard) that I'll be buying just as soon as I can reasonably afford same AND can justify why I need a notebook cover when my handwriting is so poor that I never take notes.

Grrr. I see through their damn trickery, I know exactly what they're doing to me, and I still must have their goods.