Milwaukee: I am really embarrassed for my home town. So much so that I'm almost afraid to post this. It seems that according to a recent survey "The Olive Garden" was voted 3rd best Italian Restaurant in Milwaukee.

The Olive Garden is a cheesy national chain, located primarily in suburban parking lots. In and of itself, this is a neutral fact, but how is it possible for such an establishment to even make it on a survey like this? Much less be voted into the top 10? If this survey has any basis in reality, culture in Milwaukee is in serious trouble. Furthurmore, The Olive Garden stinks. It's the epitome of watered down American slop served in a pathetically phony atmosphere on par with Applebees.

Oh well, if it's any consolation, "buca di beppo" is on San Francisco's top ten list as well. Let's all make ourselves feel better and just assume Citysearch surveys are deeply flawed. Hmm... not surprisingly, LA has the same problem. At least New York and Chicago still seem to have some respect for themselves.

Well I still don't understand Trackback completely, but I've overhaules my other blog so it archives properly. (here) and (here). The last things to do are to get the categories working correctly, then make a few things look a little nicer and get myself an XML resume. (copying Dave G here). Then I'm in business. MT takes forever to rebuild itself though. Anyways, it's late. It's time to go home. Gotta do some real work first though so I can sneak out a bit early to prepare the British for Thanksgiving.

I've been playing with a photo website called "photos.net". It's a place where you can upload photos for critiques and just to organize your favorites. There is also a lot of free stuff there for people looking for interesting photos. Here's what I've uploaded so far.

There's another new feature in Moveable type called "Trackback". If I make a reference to Karens "Fotos" here, then it should show up in the trackback section of her Round the world blog. Let's see if it works.

Ed note: Hmm... didn't work. I'll have to look into this.

At the gym, I was originally dismayed to see you have to pay 50p every time you use a locker. (you know those lockers where you put a coin in and the key pops out?) So, I have been hoarding 50p coins and dutifully using one to get the key every time. Then I discovered that one of the lockers returned my coin every time! I was very excited and kept trying to use the same locker, thinking I was a real smartass. Yesterday I was informed that ALL the lockers return your coin. It's just a deposit. I've been leaving 50p in the slot without noticing.

The future of Britain took a bright step forward today as my office actually initiated aluminum can recycling. This is contrary to my previous opinion on the British attitude toward recycling, and makes me so happy I might start pronouncing aluminum with 5 sylables!

I am drowning in Moveable type. I have been working for a while on getting this site properly set up, with archives that function properly and categories, etc.. Just learning the MT tags is like learning a whole new branch of mathematics all over again. It's phenomenal. For a great implementation, check out Dave G's weblog (at left). If I can get this thing running properly, then the Beyond website will be a masterpiece. Time to take a break though.

Blogrolling is incredibly cool. It allows you to keep a list of blogs that you read handy on any website. If I have it properly set up you should see my list on the left hand collumn. As a bonus, recently updated blogs should be indicated as well (assuming they are properly registered with weblogs.com). I'm slowly getting better at understanding the incredible new features out there. Mastery of RSS is next. All in good time.

Happy to see that Andrew Sinclair has himself an excellent weblog covering all that is happening in his neck of the woods in Boston. Check out the fire photos, pretty wild.

Hmm... good motivation I suppose, but Jesus would probably walk. The discussion boards on this site are particularily amusing rants.

While in Brussels, Patrick and I wandered over to a place called "Mini-Europe". It's a theme park where they have small replicas of various European landmarks. There was an Eiffel tower, a Big Ben, all the stuff you would expect from cities all over Europe. But when we came to Barcelona, there was a refinery fire. Not the Sagrada Familia, but a replica port with a refinery that catches on fire when you push a button. Poor Barcelona. I couldn't stop laughing. We set the refinery on fire several times and watched the fire boats put it out, then we set it on fire again.

I seem to have hit a wall in productivity, quite the opposite of yesterday. Hate it when that happens.

I've been staring at this computer too long. But I actually feel productive. I'm learning a bit about XML and the amazing things you can do with Moveable Type. Been making some updates to the new blog, and drinking lots of Coke. I would like to redesign this website tonight, but it's already 7:30 and I think my eyes might fall out of my head. Perhaps I'll drag the laptop home this weekend and work on it there.

Oh yes, Dave Galbraith seems to have a nice new weblog. Quite a good job, I must say.

Yikes! [this article] brings back some rather chilling memories.

Saw my first British football, er Soccer, match yesterday. Nottingham Forest were the visiting team, for whom I was rooting, and they played Cristal Palace. Tragically it was a 0-0 tie game, though Forest managed to score 3 times, all three times were disallowed on the gounds of someone being offsides. Bit of a let-down. Anyways, it was a great time, far better than your average American sports event where people leave half way through and are barely halfway aware of what's goind on. At the match yesterday, not only was everyone's attention riveted, but the fans were so enthusiastic they had to be separated into home and away goups so as to avoid mayhem. The crowd was in almost constant song, very little of which I could understand, but it was all quite theatric and excellent.

I'm very pleased with the frequency with which I've been going to the gym lately. Could be I've got nothing else to do, could be a new era of vision and self discipline. 3 times this week already! Not bad.

My neighborhood was a warzone last night. 12 year old boys were everywhere armed to the teeth with full scale fireworks. Not those paltry little bottlerockets you get in the US, i'm talking about real fireworks, the kind you need a profesional liscese for. Anyways, they were going off everywhere for hours, hitting the sides of high-rise buildings and exploding occasionally on the ground, way to close for comfort. There was also at least one full scale bonfire going on with dozens of little kids hurling gasoline on it. If not for age and obvious lack of experience of the participants, I'd have joined in. Instead I covered my head and ran for cover.