Fall-Line

This is not the race that Clinton thought she would be running. Her campaign was built on inevitability, a haughty operation so confident it would have the nomination wrapped up by now that it didn’t even put a field organization in place for the states that were to come after the megaprimary on Feb. 5.

Clinton’s positions, most notably her support for the Iraq invasion and her refusal to recant that vote, were geared more to battling a Republican in the general election than to winning over an angry Democratic base clamoring for change. Not until last fall did she seem to acknowledge that she faced opposition in the Democratic primaries, so focused was her message on George W. Bush and the GOP.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1713270,00.html?cnn=yes

Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, also said they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama ’s momentum after victories in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend. Some of them said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, may ultimately “go with the flow.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/us/politics/12clinton.html

Even counting the Clinton machine’s super-delegates. He’s winning it the old-fashioned way - state by state, argument by argument, debate by debate. Clinton should consider stepping aside if tomorrow’s votes go the same way. If she couldn’t put this thing away by now - with all her party clout, all her chits, all her husband’s pull, all her big donors, and all her brand-name recognition - she’s not going to do it in the end. All she will do is put her own party through an ordeal it need not experience. But I guess the Clintons have done that before, haven’t they?

The Daily Dish By Andrew Sullivan

With the most competitive and some would say important primary season of a generation in the balance, now is the time for democrats and republicans alike to take action and get involved with your political campaign of choice.

Barack Obama’s campaign (which I am a strong supporter of) has announced an $10 million, 24 state advertising campaign which could have a significant impact on the outcome of the super tuesday primaries across the nation next week. With that in mind, I found today to be the appropriate time to put my money where my mouth is and donate a modest but not insignificant amount to his cause. Sure, political advertisements are annoying and at times downright shameful but with this much on the line I’m willing to help facilitate the outcome that I feel is right.

These next 7-14 days may well have huge ramifications on America’s political landscape for decades to come. Whatever your political views, now is the time to make them known!

I had forgotten just how much I love working in downtown Seattle. For the past year or so, I’ve been working primarily with clients outside of the downtown business district. This has meant driving to work to ugly and unfriendly places North and East. Today, I complete my first (almost) full week of working with a new client right in the thick of things here, and I love it.

Today, as with yesterday, I walked the two blocks down to 5th & Pike to get my morning coffee at Monorail Espresso, which has got to be among the city’s best coffee peddlers. Seattle coffee drinkers, I beg you, WALK the extra few blocks for good coffee! I pass by two Starbucks and a Tullys en route to this place without batting an eye. Hell, I even have an unused Starbucks gift-card in my wallet from work.

Some downtown favorites:

• Monorail Espresso, 5th & Pike
• Online Coffee, 1st & University
• Cherry St Coffee, Multiple downtown locations

Also.. damn, the Macrina Harvest loaf is tasty!

Technorati Tags: Coffee, Seattle

Mrs. fall-line came through in a big way this week with a killer birthday present. I now find myself as the proud owner of a shiny new 8gb Apple iPhone. I’m not going to pretend to write a full fledged review of the device, as there are about 1.3 million (really, I checked) others out there which you can read until your eyes fall out.

After using it for a few days, I do have a few thought’s I’d like to share for the curious among you.

Most importantly, I love it. It’s a real joy to use. Day to day operation is smooth and beautiful in a way that makes you appreciate the mundane stuff like listening to voicemail. As long as I’m not thinking about he purchase price ($600), or one of the troubles I mention below, I’m filled with a warm fuzzy feeling from using it.

The good:

• Contrary to some pre-launch speculation, it’s actually the easiest to use phone I’ve ever owned.
• SMS messaging is a breeze. I’ve never been a texter. This device has changed that. I can write entire sentences in the time it took me to write the first word on a traditional phone.
• Google maps is handy. No GPS unfortunately, but it’s still very useful to have such a responsive and powerful map interface in your pocket
• E-mail, web browsing, calendar, alarm clock, etc all work well (though leaving room for a little improvement in some areas.)
• It’s the best iPod I’ve ever used. Full stop. It’s awesome. I would like to have more than 8gb in storage sure, but I’m happy to sacrifice storage for the other (phone) functionality.

The bad:

• It makes me nervous. I feel like I’m going to scratch it, drop it, or loose it. One big downside to carrying such an expensive device with you all day is that you create a relatively high risk of damage. I feel the need to protect it with a case.
• The battery life isn’t tremendous. It’s not terrible, in fact it’ll go longer than most smart phones do. I’m accustomed to not having to charge my mobile phone for 2-3 days at a time though, so it’s a little disappointing to get a low battery warning after one day of heavy use.
• I don’t like that the only apps available are web apps. True, it’s easy to develop handy apps for the device, but there needs to be a way of accessing some of these tools when not connected, or without having to wait for..
• EDGE, it’s no 3g. ~59kps of data speed is enough, but we could do better.

Despite the complaints, I’m a satisfied iPhone owner. In case I wasn’t clear in my introduction, the good far outweighs the bad in my opinion. Is it worth $600? Well, I can’t answer that for you. I still struggle with this question for myself in fact. I’m very glad to have received it as a present, but I’m not sure if I would have bought it under other circumstances. I got one though, and I’m very glad to have it.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone

Ichiro is ours, you can’t have him

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags: humor, prank

Here is an elegant solution to a common problem which has troubled a large number of otherwise happy Macbook, and Macbook Pro users over the past few years. The scenario is this: you use your shiny apple laptop both at the office and at home. At the office, you use whatever accessories the friendly IT staff has provided you. This generally includes a generic windows based keyboard, cute little windows key and all. For those not familiar with the problem this creates, don’t bother reading the rest of this - I promise it will be boring. If this is something you have encountered on the other hand, I don’t need to tell you that the switching of Apple key and Option key (alt key and windows key on a windows keyboard) is enough to drive a mac user crazy.

More after the break.

Technorati Tags: Applescript, keyboard, OSX

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Ken Griffey jr. said this during an interview aired on FSN tonight in Seattle:

Would I [come back]? Yeah. For the simple reason that this is the place where I grew up. And I think I owe it to the people of Seattle and to myself to retire as a Mariner.

Holy Sh*t!

So Mr. Bavasi, you want a little more respect from your home town fans? Make it happen… just make it happen.

Credit owed to Seattlest for this post.

Technorati Tags: Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr