Things I Recommend

I was tinkering with this weblog and realized that it was seriously lacking in do-goodery. Like, it’s all well and good to know that my computers continue to interrupt my search for peace and quiet, but really — where’s the stuff that makes you go “that’s just what I was looking for!”

So, it’s time to balance karma. Here are some things I recommend, in no particular order:

• Whilst living in the City (Formerly Known As D.C.), I had the fortune to work with an excellent realtor, Rich Ragan, both as a buyer and a seller. He was really a pleasure to work with, and (if I ever lost my senses and decided to move back to Northern Virginia) I would happily use him again and recommend him to all my friends up there.

• The Westheimer (Houston) and 183 North (Austin) locations of Chuy’s. I spent many a lunch… and dinner… and breakfast, now that I think about it, there. They’re on the ‘must visit’ list when I go back to those cities.

• The Chrysalis Inn in Bellingham, Washington. Merrystar and I have had nothing but good times there. Honorable mention goes to the The Wickaninnish Inn, which is spectacular, but a little too far removed from used bookstores to be as much fun.

• The Cobb salads at The Thistle Cafe in Austin. Best one I’ve ever had. Unfortunately wonky hours. At the cafe, not the salad. What was I talking about again?

• Web hosting at Cornerhost. I’ve been using it since 2002 and have many compliments for the way Michal’s run his business.

• Quicksilver. Quite possibly the best application developed on the Macintosh, and definitely the hardest to explain. The only application that comes close is Preview. You know that feeling you got when you first discovered Mozilla (or Firefox, or Iceweasel, or whatever you’re using now?), and you got how great it was? The moment you grok Quicksilver is an order of magnitude cooler. You will pry Quicksilver out of my cold, dead hands.

• Panasonic’s Toughbook computers and customer support. Seriously, guys. You’ve sold yourself 3 toughbooks through my recommendations already, and I’ve not been disappointed yet. Great job with the service, which is unfortunately where Apple falls short.

• xkcd, a webcomic for the geeks among you. Consistently excellent, consistently stick figure-y.

(I suppose to balance this out, I should start a Things I Do Not Recommend list, too. Duly noted.)