Let's talk Turkey

Here I am in Turkey!  Every year my husband and I come here to visit his family.  I'm trying to be a better blogger, so this trip I resolved to take some pictures.  (Most of the few family pictures we have are of our cat.)  I just downloaded the pictures I've taken so far with my iPhone, and they're all of food!  Blogging is teaching me a lot about myself.

Two of these pictures are not for the faint of heart, so if you object to seeing fish gills or a lamb's head, it's probably best for you to move on.

Anyway, this is a big roll of meat.  You can get a sense of scale by looking at the cooks.  The cooks shave off thin slices, which are then eaten with yogurt, butter, tomatoes, and bread in one of my favorite dishes, iskender kebap.

I also took some pictures at the fish market.  Check out the red structure on the right fish.  I'd never seen a fish's gills before taking this picture.

Finally, here are some roosters (my only not-food picture), and a lamb's head shrink-wrapped at the supermarket.

My next blogging goal is to try to take pictures not of food.  I'm expanding my horizons!

Street view

Ever wondered how Google Street View works?  Check this out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGrIsYUm4c  Thanks Augusto!

Silicon Valley wedding

A link from @micromobs led me to a NY Times article about someone I know!  It's a crazy, small world.  I met Drew my freshman year at Stanford.  Congratulations on your wedding!

Hasta la vista, baby

Thanks Ashley for the link!

Sea Ranch

 Just got back from a little trip to Sea Ranch.  It's a couple hours north of San Francisco right along the coast.  One hidden gem we discovered (aside from Sea Ranch itself, which is amazing!) is the Annapolis Winery.  One of the owners is a really nice woman, and unlike many wineries, they still have free tastings.

Will Wright and kittenwar.com

At Siggraph, Will Wright talked about perception.  He started off talking about kittenwar.com, which is like hotornot for cats.  Two cat pictures square off, and users vote on which is cuter.  As Will noted, you can see patterns in the winningest and losingest cats.  The winners tend to be small, and many are in a pounce pose.  The losingest cats tend to be less fluffy and bigger.  From these patterns, Will correctly predicted how two pictures of his cat would do. 

Here's a picture of my cat Sparkle, just for fun.

Can't talk now

Boss fight.  http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/08/20/funny-pictures-now-boss-fight/