Roshan Vyas

#1 Interestingness: Clear Summer View of San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:54:00 +0000

Clear Summer View of San Francisco, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

On the Popular tab of my Flickr profile, I noticed that this photo has the highest "interestingness" (a term I will be sure to start using in presentations and analysis at work).

I love how this photo turned out, especially since I really didn't think about it too much before clicking the shutter. I was walking Donut at Alta Plaza Park after work on a typical San Francisco August afternoon and just happened to bring along my camera. I was struck by what happened to the normally clear view of pretty much all of SF, so I framed and snapped.

A few days later, it made SFist, albeit with a typo in my name.

I had no idea it would become so popular. I left for my month-long honeymoon a few days later, so I never saw the favorites count shoot up. It's at 34 favorites now with 500+ views and 9 comments. 500 views isn't high for Flickr, but I'll take a 6% favorites to views ratio any day!

Review: BOOKback for iPhone 4/4S by DODOcase

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:28:00 +0000

Summary: Great non-case at a great price.

I am not sure what kind super powers people think their phone cases supposedly provide, but I doubt most cases would do more to prevent a phone screen from shattering in a drop compared the phone dropping on its own. If it happens, it happens, but why go every day with a bulky, plasticy case that just doesn't feel good (and often doesn't look good)? I used Zagg shields on my first two iPhones, but my Nexuses went completely naked for years and I never had any issues with scratches or breaks.

When I went back to using an iPhone a few months ago, I was pretty set on not getting a case, but I did like the look of the BOOKback by DODOcase. It seemed like it had potential to at least protect the back from scratches when sitting on a desk and provide some grippiness, while not making the iPhone ugly. My main concerns when I saw it online were:

It could make the iPhone too thick, especially if the material were really squishy.
It looks like a lint magnet.
It might not look as nice in person.
The logo takes away from the minimalist design.

For less than $10, it wasn't a decision to stress over so I put in an order. I was glad to see that all of my concerns ended up not being big deals:

It's actually very thin while also being rigid. It's obviously not going to provide any shock protection, so it looks like it is as thin as it can be while also not feeling cheap.
The sides felt sticky at first which attracted lint, but after a few weeks this went away.
It looks great in person, and the logo is hardly noticeable. I still think they should have not stamped it on there, but I almost never notice it.

The 3M material they use to stick the case on is great. One day I stuffed my iPhone in my pocket with my Clipper card, causing the card to get wedged between the phone and the backing. When I realized what happened a couple of hours later, the back had a big crease down the middle. After reattaching and waiting an hour, it went back to normal and looked good as new.

I prefer going case-less and wouldn't want to spend a lot on a case if I had to. The BOOKback provides some protection and style for those that prefer going case-less, and for the price it's a great value. Definitely recommended.

Day Thirty Three

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:16:00 +0000

Day Thirty Three, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

Project 365 has been tough this year, but despite having filler days taken with my iPhone, it has forced me out on some nights. I've been sticking with my new neighborhood, especially this park near my place. Can't wait till the days get longer so I can start exploring more!

Day Seventeen

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Day Seventeen, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

I attempted to get a macro shot of one of the twelve viewfinders in and nearby Patricia's Green in Hayes Valley near Fell and Octavia, but the camera wouldn't focus. I still like the results. Maybe I'll add a pithy statement in Helvetica or Futura and sell this as a print for $500.

Day Nine

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:17:00 +0000

Day Nine, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

My last day in my twenties. Tomorrow: 30. And no more iPhone pictures for a while. Time to unpack the X100!

My First Coffee Setup!

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:54:00 +0000

My First Coffee Setup!, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

From left to right: Chemex with Coava Kone, Capresso Infinity burr grinder, EatSmart Precision Pro kitchen scale, and Blue Bottle Giant Steps beans.

And my first home-brewed cup:

Day Six

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:01:00 +0000

Day Six, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

Back in the days on the boulevard of Linden
We used to kick routines and presence was fittin

Linden St. between Gough and Octavia in Hayes Valley.

Day Five

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:09:00 +0000

Day Five, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

Ladies.

Day Four

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:43:00 +0000

Day Four, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

Ivy St. in Hayes Valley. The only sounds of life you hear are shopping carts passing in the night.

Processed in Adobe PS Express for iPhone.

Day Three

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:33:00 +0000

Day Three, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

These weren't exactly the cameras I was looking for when I unpacked my photography / cameras box. The D7000 and X100 are still buried within. No matter, the Diana+ and disposable waterproof film cams, not to mention this iPhone 4s, should keep me happy for a few more days. This photo was processed in Adobe PS Express for iPhone.

Day Two

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:15:00 +0000

Day Two, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

My new corner coffee shop is the Blue Bottle Kiosk on an alley called Linden. I'm sticking with buying drinks for now, but since I got the Chemex and Kone filter on the wedding registry last year, I'll start buying beans here as soon as I get a scale and burr grinder.

Today I had a latte. This was processed in Instagram.

Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:23:00 +0000

Day One, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

We spent the tail end of 2011 signing stacks of paper before moving into our new condo in Hayes Valley. Now we're starting 2012 swimming in boxes and working on unpacking. But we're home. Here's to a great 2012.

Mac OS X Apps I Love: TaskPaper

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:54:00 +0000

Here's the combination of stuff I've used to track my to-dos at work over the years: My Gmail inbox, Gmail drafts, a Google Spreadsheet, a Google Doc, post-it notes stuck to my MacBook Pro, Google Calendar, chat windows left open, and notebooks that never seem to get filled past the second page. I took a Getting Things Done class a few years ago, but could never get fully set up using one master spreadsheet to keep track of my tasks. Meanwhile, my inbox regularly had 100+ threads of stuff I eventually needed to get to or reference.

Not anymore. Before I left on my last vacation, I archived my entire inbox and switched over to my new favorite to-do list application: TaskPaper. Created by HogBay Software, makers of the great PlainText and WriteRoom, TaskPaper is a dead simple application that makes getting started with a to-do list easy, but includes powerful features that just work without feeling complicated. It saves your to-do list as a plain text file, but each line in the file is formatted into a project, task, or note.

I thought $29.99 was a bit steep for what looked like a glorified text editor, but then I saw their intro video and was sold:

You can store the your to-do list text file on Dropbox or use SimpleText to sync, but since I use this for work I just leave the file on my computer. Eventually, I'll write an Automator script to periodically save the file and send it to myself on my work Gmail account. An added bonus is that the file then becomes searchable in Gmail, since it is just plain text.

App Filenames Backup: Creating list of installed OS X apps and backing up to Dropbox

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:06:00 +0000

I've gone through a lot of fresh Mac OS X installs on Powerbooks and Macbook Pros in the last seven years. Through upgrade cycles, hardware issues, unexpected KPs, and new OS installations, I've had to reinstall applications often. I never remember every useful application I've installed since I can't use them all every day. The Mac App Store can solve this by reinstalling downloaded apps, but not every app is on the MAS.

To remember which apps I've installed, I've created a small app to create a text file of all of the filenames in my /Applications folder and put the file on Dropbox. I can run the app whenever I want to always have a backup, but it will be especially useful when I am changing machines or upgrading to a new OS.

Here is what it does:

~$ cd /Applications
~$ ls -al > ~/Dropbox/Applications/applist.txt
Quit

To make it an app, I used AppleScript Editor and wrote the following:

do shell script "cd /Applications; ls -al > ~/Dropbox/Applications/applist.txt"

and saved it as an application. You can download the app from my Dropbox at App Filenames Backup.zip

If your Applications are at /Applications (the default location), Dropbox is set up at ~/Dropbox (default), and you create a ~/Dropbox/Applications folder, it should just work.

If you want to make any edits, open the app in AppleScript Editor. To edit where the file is created, edit ~/Dropbox/Applications/ to wherever you choose. You could also have it backup all of the filenames in any other folder.

If you want to schedule this to run, you can use Automator and an iCal alarm. Note that every time the app runs, it overwrites the previous applist.txt file.

Friday FiDi Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:31:00 +0000

Friday FiDi Afternoon, a photo by Roshan Vyas on Flickr.

Playing with the new toy. Fuji X100 processed using Holga-ish by Picasa/Picnik.

How to Post an Apartment Rental on Craigslist

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:10:00 +0000

The real title of this post should be Things Craigslist Should Require For Apartment Listings but we all know that hot mess has never met a feature request it jumped to implement.

This post is for anyone posting an apartment for rent on Craigslist. I'm not an expert, just a renter who has used Craigslist for years to find apartments, having moved numerous times between Palo Alto, Mountain View, and San Francisco in the past seven years. Almost every listing I've seen has been crap, posted by landlords who are either very confident in where they stand in the supply/demand dynamics of the Bay Area rental market, or have only been introduced to computers in the latter halves of their lives.

Imagine a car company with a commercial that only said "Car for sale. Built in 2010. Has 4 doors. To see, bring $40 application deposit and give us all of your personal information" and all of the photos of the car were it in a mass of cars on the freeway, with no close up details. That commercial would be about as good as most Craigslist apartment listings, and it would show about as much ambivalence to the potential customer.

Since I smugly consider us ideal renters (ie. we both have jobs and our idea of a house party is having two friends over to play Settlers of Catan), here is what I demand of landlords posting on Craigslist. I encourage other ideal renters (defined as anyone who won't run a meth lab) to band together and not rent from landlords with crappy posts. Landlords, take it or leave it, but good luck with the fumes if you leave it.

All of this information is required in an apartment listing:

Number of bedrooms and bathrooms. If one of the bedrooms could also be considered the living room, it is not a bedroom.
Pictures. 80% or more have to be of the interior of the apartment, and you have to include the bathrooms, kitchen, and bedrooms. Do not use a wide angle or fish-eye lens. Do not rely on Craigslist to host your photos; use Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, etc.
Square footage. If you don't know, buy a tape measurer.
Laundry: In-unit washer and dryer, laundry room in building, or the closest laundromat.
Parking and additional fees, if yes.
Pet policy. Be specific with animal types and breed restrictions.
Number of floors in the building, the floor the unit is on, and whether there is an elevator.
Flooring: Carpet, hardwood, or something else.
Type of lease required.
Deposit and rent.
Your contact information and preferred method of contact.

Optional but nice to know:

Grounded or ungrounded electrical outlets.
Year the building was built.
Street noise level.
Any known issues. Let us decide whether we care or don't care about the issue before we show up to check out the place.

Absolutely do not:

Use any symbols or exclamation points in the listing title.
Shorten normal words to unreadable nonsense. Parking is only four more letters than pkg and hardwood floors is much easier to understand than HW.
Use all caps.
Refer to anything as stunning, charming, or tasteful.
Only have 15-minute open house windows in the middle of the week day when we're working.

It looks like a lot, but would you rather us call you and ask a bunch of questions? Would you rather we trade a bunch of emails back and forth? Would you rather us waste your time by showing up to an open house only to find out the apartment isn't right for us?

Try to not hate your customers, and you might get some customers worth keeping.

Idiots on Craigslist: Richard Shuff

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 03:48:00 +0000

I saw this apartment listing on Craigslist http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2505928209.html that contained the text "Pacific Heights one bedroom. Well maintained building, $1900 month. Between Franklin, Gough see pics." and four pictures, only one of which was of the interior of the apartment.

I emailed:

Hi, Just saw your listing and had many questions:
Does it include parking?
Does the unit or building have laundry?
What is the pet policy?
Do you have any more pictures of the unit, specifically the bathroom and bedroom?
What is the square footage of the apartment?
What floor is the apartment on?
Does the apartment face the street?
What is the address?
What type of lease? One year, six months, etc.
Is there a deposit?
Thanks

He just replied and wrote:

No,no,no
www.rshuff.com

So I replied:

Thank you for the unhelpful reply. Good luck renting this place, I'm sure many people will be interested based on only seeing pictures of the exterior and lobby.

SF landlords are amazing. Check out Richard Shuff's "art" on that site. His photography skills are only outdone by his web design.

Automatically Restart and Update Google Chrome Canary Daily with Automator and iCal on Mac OS X

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:21:00 +0000

I'm running Google Chrome Canary to run alongside Google Chrome to stay signed in to two separate Google Accounts (work and personal) without having to deal with multi-login issues. Since I rarely restart my MacBook Pro or quit my browsers, I don't remember to check for the daily updates to Chrome Canary. To ensure I am always running the current build, I set up an Automator workflow that does the following:

Quits Google Chrome Canary
Pauses for 10 seconds (This can be adjusted if your app usually takes longer to quit)
Launches Google Chrome Canary

To use the workflow, ensure Chrome Canary is automatically updating (Chrome > About Google Chrome) and set to reopen the pages that were last open (Preferences > Basics). I also have my Chrome preferences synched to my Google Account. When you are ready, download my Relaunch Chrome Canary workflow, unzip the file, and place it wherever you want.

Launching the file will go through steps 1-3 above. To automate this, open iCal and set up a daily recurring event with an alarm that launches the workflow file. I set mine to launch at 1am so it doesn't disturb me. You may want to create a separate calendar in iCal for workflow events to keep hidden and to not sync with Google Calendar and/or iOS.

Pages that don't require VPN or corporate network access should load fine on relaunch. Gmail, Calendar, and Docs all load in their last state, already signed in.

Jean-Georges Review (Originally posted March 28, 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Tue, 31 May 2011 22:03:00 +0000

I'm consolidating my favorite posts from my previous blogs and other online services. This was originally posted on March 28, 2007 on Yelp, and currently ranks as my second funniest Yelp review.
Quite possibly one of the best restaurant experiences I have enjoyed. Ever.

First, what happened before lunch at Jean Georges: I was flying to New York on a business trip from a Thursday to Sunday (expensing time!). For some reason, I waited till Tuesday night to get reservations, and on Wednesday, I find out that jeans aren't allowed at Jean Georges. Something I should have known, but seeing as how we have that casual, jeans-at-work-and-play thing down in the Bay, I wasn't thinking about it. Unfortunately, I was already packed (with jeans) and flying out of San Jose after work (in Mountain View), and I live in SF. My only answer was to go to the defacto men's luxury clothing store of the Peninsula: Target. That's right, I needed black pants fast, and I wasn't about to spend $50+ on ones I would rarely wear. $20 later, I had myself a fancy pair of Cherokee black khakis that not only resists wrinkles, but also repels liquids. "I am so gonna be shinin' at Jean Georges!", I think. My girlfriend was not so optimistic: "They're too tight! Why didn't you try them on?"

So I should also add that the only time where i had really heard about Jean Georges aside from recommendations was from David Cross on his comedy CD It's Not Funny where he says about his dining there: "But I've always had this problem, this self-consciousness when I'm in this fancy place....and I assume that everybody is looking at me like I won some kind of contest...'Oh look honey, the Make-A-Wish foundation is flying a boy out.'"

Sigh...so obviously I knew I was going to feel exactly like that normally, and especially in my uncomfortable pants. I dress nice normally, honest :(

On Thursday we arrived at the Trump building in Columbus Circle for our lunch reservations and were seated in the bigger room with all the windows. The hosts were all really nice, taking our coats as they got ready to seat us. We got seated at a table that was against one window, in the middle of the wall, at the far end of the room. We were sitting next to each other with our back to the window, facing the entire dining room. I really felt like we were on display...and since I don't normally feel like I belong in a place like this, it was kinda funny.

So anyways, we sit down and order our courses and wine. They set down two empty wine glasses, one a bit fatter than the other. My gf comments that her wine glass is bigger than mine, therefore it must be better (he he), and we recall another part of the David Cross routine about going from the bar to the table: "He takes my wine glass and puts it on the tablet. And the wine glass was doing fine in my hand. I'm perfectly capable transporting my own wine, but that's how classy it was! He took my glass and put it on a silver tray, and then walked 10 feet to our table to give my wine a little...silver ride. How bout that wine? That was a classy little ride, wasn't it? A lot better than being in that hand." So we snicker to ourselves like the dorks we are, and then literally like 1 minute later the waiter walks by, looks at the placement of our wine glasses, picks each up and puts them on a silver tray, and then switches them as he puts them back on the table. So now I have the bigger wine glass. But why did he have to put them on the tray first, instead of just picking them up and switching them? That's how classy this place is!!!!

So lunch (or is it brunch?) consists of 2 courses, but you can order more if you wish. I ordered 3. I won't go through what I ordered and how it all tasted, since honestly I don't really remember. Just know that it all tastes good, and they give you an extra course in there to start out with, and you'll leave feeling very satisfied.

The waiter was amazing: he explained everything very clearly and answered all of our questions. At one point he brought out an extra course for us that consisted of 3 parts, and he told us exactly how to eat it properly. The cool thing was that he totally had a narrator's voice, so whenever he talked to us I felt like he was narrating our meal:

"In a world, where one man comes to Jean Georges hungry and wearing $20 Target pants, the appropriate wine to order with the frogs legs is the syrah."

There's a lot of nice and mid-priced restaurants that you go to where the waiters have an attitude and are condescending, and that's kinda what I was afraid before coming here. But there wasn't an ounce of pretension or condescension.

By the time we finished desserts and coffee, we were stuffed and very satisfied by the whole experience. The food quality, the atmosphere, the taste, the service...all classy and fantastic. Plus we got free marshmallows! That's how classy this place is!!!

I'll definitely be coming back for the full 7-course dinner next time I'm in New York. And hopefully I won't be in Target pants.

The Massage and The Undergarment (Originally posted July 01, 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:17:00 +0000

I'm consolidating my favorite posts from my previous blogs. This was originally posted on July 01, 2008, during the quarter I worked out of the Google Hyderabad office.
Last month I went for a massage at a spa in Hyderabad called Latitudes. Google has a deal with this spa so we get a discount on full body massages, and the other expats make it a frequent weekend destination. On this Saturday, I went with a couple of other expats who had been before, but it was my first time.

I haven’t had too many full body massages before, only ones at Google Mountain View, all by women. But at Latitudes Hyderabad, men get men masseurs and women get women masseuses. I was not looking forward to this at all, but I trusted that since the other expats were comfortable with it I would be too.

The facilities are really nice and clean, like a normal day spa. They started out by giving me a bundle of things to change in to and leading me to a dressing room. The bundle included a large cloth robe, paper slippers that you normally find in Asian hotel rooms, and a plastic bag that contained with what can best be called a paper undergarment.

It was on this last point that I stopped in the dressing room and was bewildered. I opened up the plastic bag and removed this horrific undergarment with a big “WTF?” look on my face. They wanted me to wear this? and only this?? The best description I can come up with is that it is two triangles connected by a very thin string that goes around the waist. Also, the two triangles are the same size in front and back. I can’t imagine why this was necessary or how it would even make one feel that they were being, ahem, contained, but after putting it on I immediately took it off and said “hell naw!” I know the only person who would see me in it was the (male) masseur and me, but that was enough. I put my boxers back on, wrapped myself in the robe, and shuddered that such a thing existed.

The dude walked me to the massage room, which looked like a normal massage room and had a bed, chair, counter, etc. He washed my feet in rose petals and water and asked me to disrobe and get on the bed. Now, when I get my massage at Google MTV, the massage therapist said I could leave my boxers on or take them off, and she left the room as I got on the bed and put a sheet over myself. But this guy just stood there as I took off my robe.

Dude: “Sir, you did not wear the undergarment?”
Me: (Thinking) Oh shit, is that a problem. Be cool…
Me: “No, I prefer this”
Dude: “Ooooook sir, noooo problem”
Me: (Thinking) haha, I should have said I am wearing it underneath my boxers

So I get on the bed and he starts to massage my back. But it was really awkward in there because there was no music - not even Enya! - so it was really just me and him. And he kept talking to me, like “where are you from?” and “where do you work?” Now, I have a feeling that in India when you’re a non-Indian expat, they don’t pepper with you as many questions. But if you’re ethnically Indian, they want to know all about you. When you have barely any clothes on and just want to relax, it’s not fun.

Finally he turns on that new age massage music so I didn’t have to listen to him talk and he lights some lavender oil lamp that smells nice. He moved to my legs and massaged the back of my thighs. You know how when someone squeezes your thigh it is really ticklish but also painful. This was like that times 10. I turned back to say that it really hurt, and he was like “Yes sir, it because you sit at a computer all day and it is tense” and keeps going. Normally, if you tell a massage therapist that something does not feel good, they stop! He just goes at it harder!

I protested again but he kept going because of course he knew better than me about my own body and what I like. And oddly in India, when you get a massage, they go up the leg enough for it to be uncomfortable. Aaaalmost like the episode of Friends where Chandler goes to Joey’s tailor to get measured.

Later I turned over so he could get my arms, and the dude is just staring at me the whole time. Every time I open my eyes, there is his big face staring at me. So of course I kept my eyes closed.

After he finished up my body, he asked if I wanted a face massage and I was like “no no nope.” So he just finished with a scalp massage that was the worst thing ever. He kept doing the thing they hit your head, and I have no idea how this is supposed to feel good other than that it felt good when he stopped hitting me.

Afterwards, he lead me to the sauna room. It was over 100F outside and a sauna really is the best thing to sit in… if you want to pass out. I got lightheaded after two minutes and made my way to the shower.

Since they oftentimes give you comment cards in India at restaurants and hotels, when he gave me mine as I was waiting for my friends, I just wrote “Let us have a choice between a man and a woman. Please do not talk during the massage.” I wonder how that’s gonna go…

Obviously I haven’t been back, but I am contemplating it just to get a picture of the undergarment (not on me!) so I can prove to you that it exists.

Massages by men FTL!

A New Web Log (Again)

noreply@blogger.com (Roshan Vyas) — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:07:00 +0000

blog.roshanvyas.com

This is around the seventh new blog I've started. After registering my first domain in 2002 and getting a hosting provider, I've moved from Blogger to Greymatter to Blogger to Wordpress to Tumblr, and from randumbness.com to letmecrazy.com to roshanvyas.com. I actually like writing, and since my Tumblr has become a repository of pictures of food and Donut, I'm starting up again here to just write. I'll also be re-posting my greatest hit(s) from the last nine years (The Massage and the Undergarment, anyone?)

roshanvyas.com

I've moved my Tumblr from roshanvyas.com to tumblr.roshanvyas.com and replaced it with a static about me page. Credits include:

Hosting by StatiCloud.
CSS inspired by Social Icons Display Using CSS3 by Marofolio.net
Icons by Webtreats etc.