Probably the worst, most heinous new feature I’ve seen in Vista… inexpicable, really — so unbelievably wrong and terrible from any and all design and human-centered perspectives — is this “copy file” dialog when you are, say, dragging a file into a folder and there’s already an existing file with the same name there.

All I have to say is, “what the fuck were they thinking?”  My jaw dropped when I saw this the first time, and after the 100th time I’m still aghast at the sea of words, obfuscating and overcomplicating everything.  Then some douchebag named Awesome-O (he doesn’t deserve that South Park moniker) actually thinks it would be a good idea to add a fourth option?!  I guess there actually is a real target user for this shit… someone who actually likes arcane, totally unnecessary features.  It truly frightens me.

Actually, not much more to say.  You all know how horrible Vista is (and the new Office?  omg!  I really hate it!).

But, here’s something funny.  Somehow I accidentally copied the Documents folder into my user folder so there are now 2 of them.  I try to delete one (which is empty, while the other isn’t).  But it won’t let me!

Sorry… just wanted to vent.

What fun!

There was even this poor guy, who apparently had a nasty spill and arm fracture while skateboarding:

Coco also had some great tattoos… who doesn’t in Seattle?

I want to go back and buy some when I get my first paycheck… they’re so cute!  Even the giant, white, phallus-shaped one in the corner!  Coco told me there were 4 of them, but 3 had been purchased already. I guess here they are at the opening:

With the guidance, support, and great intentionally bad interviewing prowess of our advisor, Jeremy Alexis, we set out to create an educational video for new ID students and other members of the design community interested in user-centered design. With this video, we narrowed our focus on what ethnography is and how/why designers conduct interviews as part of user research.

Our hope is that viewers will find this informative as they start or continue their education and careers in design research. Also, we hope that this will be just the first of many videos produced by ID students to help teach others about techniques, methods, and other aspects of design through the powerful and entertaining medium of video.

We’d love to hear your feedback, so please watch the video on vimeo.com (640×360), blip.tv (853×480, audio is fixed now, but the video playback seems choppy… weird…), or right-click (control-click) this link to save the full 1280×720 HD version (warning, it’s a 1.1GB Quicktime movie).

And, of course, thanks to everyone who appeared in or helped in any way with the production of this project. It was a lot of hard work and we couldn’t have done it without you (you’re in the credits at the end)!

Can’t wait to try out some of these new tips after I move!

It’s over, and I’m glad. The raw food wasn’t all that bad. Except for Tuesday’s menu, which I didn’t care for, the food was overall decent and interesting. The sweets tended to be my favorites, then the crackers. I can make salads and buy fruits myself, so I don’t need Karyn to help me out there. Most of the other dishes tended to be overdone, overspiced, and overthought. I honestly didn’t notice much benefit, and pretty much had an upset GI tract the whole week.

So, back to normal. I made a latte this morning and enjoyed it. I bought some ground bison over the weekend and have enjoyed some lean, fine tasting burgers. I’ve made my own salads with tomatoes and arugula and they were better. I indulged in some coffee and coconut gelato. My main problem right now is just portion control. I’ll give Karyn props for that. Having my meals measured and packaged individually by item certainly helped me control my appetite… though, it was an awful waste of packaging.

So, it was an interesting experiment, but I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve been eating. I’m trying to stick to whole foods as much as possible and get what I need from what grows in the ground, on a tree, walks the land, flies through the air, or swims in the sea. I breathe air and shit brown. To the latter point, I’ve returned to normal too since the experiment ended… and I like it.

Omnivorous, variegated diet 1 - raw diet 0.

Anyway, the visit during class was eye-opening and intriguing. Everyone in the class reported feeling better and more energized after just that one meal. No one felt tired or sleepy like one often does after eating.

So, finally, a few weeks later, I decided to try the Karyn’s At Home service. It’s five days worth of food (three meals a day plus a snack each day) for $175. Not terribly expensive.

Yesterday’s selections were pretty decent. Breakfast was a green smoothie drink, contents of which I don’t really know. It was pretty tasty though. Lunch consisted of a tamale type thing, corn soup, and I ate some of the “bread sticks” which I think were meant for dinner. Dinner was “fettucini” (julienned zucchini) with a tahini sauce, the rest of the bread sticks, and a tasty carob cake for dessert. I ate my snack (grapefruit with some unknown stuff in it) a couple hours later.

Today, day two, however has been rough. Breakfast was okay (”oatmeal” with raisins in it). Lunch and dinner were pretty disgusting, I must say. Overspiced, oversaucy purees, which made me feel like I was eating baby food. The “white bread” was decent and at least had a nice, adult texture. The saving grace was the dessert (once again, sweets win) which was some kind of coconut cake.

Anyway, I drank a cup of coffee today, which was nice. Yesterday I didn’t make espresso at home and ended up with caffeine withdrawal headaches by the evening. I’m certain I’ll lose weight this week, since the discipline to eat only what’s been individually packaged for you for every meal is easy. For a lot of this stuff, even though it’s not a lot of food, the unpleasant taste makes me not even want to finish.

We’ll see what benefits, if any, I might feel from the diet. I certainly don’t find it enjoyable (I would consider myself a bit of an epicurean or sensualist). My GI tract isn’t too happy. And, I have no idea how anyone gets enough protein eating this stuff.

I’m not convinced.

Okay, so I gave in years ago and switched to iTunes instead of Winamp (which I think was way better in terms of giving you freedom to listen to and organize your music as you saw fit) since I figured it made more sense to use with my iPod.

I don’t regret it, but now when I get these “update available” notices for iTunes & Quicktime, they’re also trying to get me to install Safari for PC! I don’t want to fucking install Safari… now or ever. I’m more than happy with Firefox. Yet every update I have to go through this stupid process.

It’s so fucking annoying. Does this remind you of anyone? (ahem… Microsoft!)

They’re all the same, in case you didn’t notice. I have to agree with Grimes on this one… they’re all evil… Apple, Microsoft, whoever.

Would it really be that hard or such a paradigm shift to give me the option to not only NOT install Safari, but never be asked if I want to install it again?  Same thing goes for all the dumb Microsoft shit in Windows updates… like, dude, I have Outlook installed… I don’t want your fucking Outlook Express updates.

Frankly, I like clothes but they have always been a low priority for me given my financial circumstances. Of course I’d like to look more hip and stylish if I had the money, but I’d rather eat and drink well, entertain myself, go out, and buy books than worry too much about clothes. Shoes were the one area where I tended to spend more and add to my collection, so I’d be well-soled for the right occasion.

The navy pinstripe suit is my most expensive suit. I think I paid $600 for it at Nordstrom. It’s conservative. I hate the pants. Honestly, I don’t really like it. I’ve never liked suits. To me, they don’t represent me well, they are stuffy, too conservative, and those pants… geez… those pants are awful. The pleats, the tapered legs… slacks of oppression! These were at least tailored to be a bit looser than my other suit pants, which are now too tight anyway because I’ve put on weight in grad school.

Anyhow, people have always generally advised me that it’s better to be overdressed for an interview than underdressed, so even though I don’t necessarily like this suit, I wore it because otherwise it’d be my more normal gab! garb: baggy jeans, sneakers, and a sweater or hoodie.

The problem was, in this particular case, I think I made the mistake of overdressing. You see, everyone in the room was dressed more casually. This was a design firm after all. And this made me acutely self-aware and self-conscious. Plus, suits are restrictive and don’t condone relaxation and ease. The result — and maybe it’s just me because I can be an uptight person at times — was that I became that suit: stiff, conservative, boring, undistinguished.

My friend Cindy said it best when she said it looked like I was “dressed for a bar-mitzvah.” She was exactly right.

To make matters worse, I realized after I left the interview (which I thought had gone fairly well) that I had forgotten to remove a transparent plastic clip from the collar that the dry cleaner had put in there. In my sleep-deprived stupor, I hadn’t noticed. What an idiot!

Well, I didn’t get the job, but I did find out from the woman who had been my point of contact that the team had found me to be uptight, stiff, and uncomfortable in my outward appearance. It was reflected in my posture, my voice, and my presence. They had trouble reconciling the person before them with the impression they had of me from my work, my website, and my blog.

I’ve rectified some of this problem. Before my next interview, I went to Zara and bought a jacket and shirt that were more “me.” I wore nice jeans and this shirt and jacket. I dressed myself up, but stayed true to my personality.

It sounds stupid and superficial, but all this stuff matters. It shouldn’t. Had they known me better at that other company, they would have known that I’m actually a very witty, clever, funny, and silly person at times. I have a dry sense of humor and a monotonous voice, but there’s much more below the surface than I generally reveal. Maybe the clothes do make the man. I wore my Zara clothes to my next interview, and it went much better. I think I’ll even get a job offer from them.

Is it really that simple?