http://www.alexloddengaard.com A blog by Alex Loddengaard Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:50:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have been super bad about blogging lately; I blame this primarily on my lack of internet cafe visits but also on strange foreign keyboards. French keyboards are especially strange, but Spanish keyboards are not so bad. You will notice that I will not use single apostrophes, because ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/07/06/more-europe-paris-caen-bayeux-nice-barcelona/ This is going to be fast because French keyboards are super weird: London was awesome; good to see Dan Slept on the streets in Amsterdam because our hostel fell through -- awesome Ate waffles and drank beer in Brussels.  Mmmmm More to come when I have a normal computer. http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/23/europe-updates-london-amsterdam-belgium/ I'm hopping on a plane in less than 12 hours, and I'm all packed up and ready to go. Vows I'm making to myself: No feed reader No internet browsing Email only when necessary or during downtime Blogging only during downtime At least six hours spent at the Delirium Cafe in Brussels Stuff I've packed: 5 shirts 5 boxers 5 ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/18/last-minute-europe/ I've bought everything I need, booked a few hostels, booked my plane tickets, stocked up on Advil, and done just about everything I have to do in preparation for my Europe trip.  All that's left is to squeeze everything into a backpack. I'm surprisly calm given that I'll be backpacking through ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/17/europe-coming-soon/ The earliest presentation I can recall giving was during my junior year of high school. I was in front of my U.S. History class, accompanied by two of my classmates. The three of us had prepared for our talk, and it was my turn to present. I ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/09/how-i-overcame-my-fear-of-public-speaking/ I just bought a Canon Rebel XTi for my travels.  Wow.  I'm no photographer, but I can totally appreciate the difference in quality between a point-and-shoot and the Rebel XTi.  I took some photos yesterday for fun, and I'm insanely impressed with the camera.  I spent a few minutes reading ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/03/canon-rebel-xti-first-impression/ I'm giving a guest lecture for Marty's CSE 190M class tomorrow, Wednesday, June 4th in Guggenheim 220 at 3:30pm.  The talk will be about basic steps to creating and launching a website, with a focus on Cellarspot.  I'll update this post later with the slides. Update: download the slides here. http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/03/cse-190m-guest-lecture/ I remember my first Seattle autumn.  Having come from Los Angeles, the city with one season, the sight of brown leaves flowing in the wind reminded me of "the most beautiful thing in the world" according to Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.  I was so happy to see an autumn ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/03/seattle-the-city-with-one-season-and-intermittent-change/ The fellers over at AGoodReed were super generous and got me some travel gifts.  I got a sick surf backpack with the bare essentials -- wetsuit bag, skate carrier, insulated cooler pack, laptop case, etc.  I also got a hip AGR (TM) shirt to rock at the hottest clubs in ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/02/agr-travel-gifts/ This past Friday was my last day at Redfin.  Sometimes I wonder why I'm leaving such a wonderful company, but I think I've made the right decision. I had a really hard time saying goodbye to all my awesome coworkers, and my insane happy-hour-turned-to-long-night-of-drinking made things even more difficult. It's ... http://www.alexloddengaard.com/2008/06/02/goodbye-redfin/