Letter from Iceland: "Holidaymakers and business travellers venturing 'til Útlanda', as it is called, found their credit cards refused." That was just 2 weeks after we returned from Iceland. Good thing it didn't implode while we were there... (A point of comparison: my credit card statement shows a 23 Sep purchase for ISK28,500 as US$301.93. Under two months later, and the conversion is now US$203.04.) (2)

United's Door-to-Door baggage service: save the hassle of bringing your luggage to and from the airport...by spending $149+ per bag to have it FedEx'd the day before? Uh, what? Who thought that would take off? (0)

Unbelievable. From Portfolio's "The End of Wall Street" article: "In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000." (1)

Good stuff: Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" on CA's Prop 8 (video). (0)

Please get out there and vote! I’d love to see record turnout numbers.

Things I’d also like to see, in order of importance:

1. A Barack Obama win (of course)
2. A Prop 8 (CA) loss
3. An Al Franken (MN-Sen) win
4. A Michelle “anti-American” Bachmann (MN-6) loss

Tonight, I’ll either be on the fringes of Barack’s Grant Park party — or staring at DirecTV channel 352.

So Pepsi has a new logo... looks a little like Korean Air in a can to me. I prefer Coke's pared-down approach. (0)

Clever little YouTube video: The Vet Who Did Not Vet. (0)

Registration fraud does not equal voter fraud. (So "Mickey Mouse" registered. How's that going to affect an election?) And all this ACORN whining? Give me a break. (1)

Long, but illuminating: Rolling Stone on John McCain. (7)

Gotta love the attention to detail:

Harris is a stickler for this sort of thing. When he restored Hitchcock's Vertigo, he asked Jaguar to send him a color chip from the 1957 model of one of its cars—the same car that Kim Novak drove in the film—so that he could match the shade of green exactly.

— Your DVD Player Sleeps With the Fishes (0)

Nerdery + politics + good branding = the trifecta! Hot. (via df) (0)

So I know that Sarah Palin doesn’t interview well and seems to lie effortlessly and frequently. It’s a shame, but I understand it.

Even with all that, I’m still stunned by this (see from 0:36):

I watched [Tina Fey's impersonation on Saturday Night Live] with the volume all the way down, and I thought it was hilarious, she was spot on. … It was hilarious, again, didn’t hear a word she said, but the visual — spot on.

So let me see if I understand this correctly: a famous actress parodies you on a show watched by millions of people, and you don’t even listen? Where was this, a bar? On the street outside an electronics store? The trading floor of the NYSE? (No, wait, that’s closed Saturdays… and possibly weekdays, soon enough.)

How could she not have heard it, if not then, later? She has friends, neighbors, aides, kids. They’ll all have heard about it, probably even e-mailed her the Web links if she can’t be bothered to spend 20 seconds searching online for the video. And even if they didn’t, why wouldn’t she seek it out on her own?

No, this is patently ridiculous. She didn’t just happen to miss it, she chose to — or claims she did. Therefore she’s either criminally incurious or she can’t take criticism, even from professional comics. I’m not sure which is worse.

• 11th: Quit my job*
• 18th: Last day
• 20th: Off to Iceland
• 23rd: Turn 31
• 27th: Return from Iceland
• 29th: Nick “officially” moves in

Yeah, so, you know… not busy or anything.

*It was a contractor position, so technically I ended the engagement.

In an effort to demonstrate a presentation style, Wired author Dan Pink created a video on “Emotionally Intelligent Signage.” It’s an interesting topic, but the part that made me smile was this sign:

The friendly, human voice of the sign is nice all by itself, but for me the cool part was the memory it triggered: earlier this year, The Boy Nick James and I were in Maui at a lovely breakfast spot called the Gazebo. It’s this little hole-in-the-wall joint that somehow manages to make the most amazing omelettes you’ve ever had. (And the fried rice! Heavenly.)

Anyway, as its reputation has inspired a loyal following, we encountered a sizable line both times we visited. The queue started at this sign:

Once we got to the front of the line, I was bored and decided to play with it. I wondered: What did the other versions say? I lifted the “please wait” sign to find:

Aha! Clearly there were times when the crowd was a little thinner. I wonder when that would be? Have to arrange my next visit around that time of day if possible. And, hmm, what’s this? Another sign! What might this one reveal? I lifted the “seat yourself” plate to discover:

Hooray for a sense of humor.

Who else is ready for the new Bond? Mmmmhmmm….