This chai recipe is courtesy of my coworker, Satyen Desai. He was kind enough to bring a pot of this into the office. Chai has forever been changed for me.

Ingredients (for one cup)

• 1/2 cup water
• 2 flat tsps Wagh Bakari (or another loose-leaf black tea)
• 3 fresh mint leaves
• 2 pinches ground green cardamon seeds
• 1 pinch of my Grandmom's chai masala
• 1 pinch of fresh ginger and/or lemongrass (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

1. In a sauce pan, add water, tea, mint, cardamon, masala, and (optional) ginger/lemongrass and bring to a rolling boil
2. Add milk, lower heat, and bring to a rolling boil again
3. Take the pot off the heat before it overflows, let it settle back down, and put it back on. It'll continue to rise even when off the heat, so take if off before it reaches the top. Repeat a couple of times (more if you want it stronger)

Enjoy!

Grandmom's chai masala

Satyen admits you can probably get something close in Indian stores, but there's nothing like recipes from grandmom. A (I assume roughly equal) mix of the following, ground separately:

• black pepper
• green cardamom seeds
• cinnamon
• dried ginger
• clove

Chai image via Wikipedia

At yesterday's Apple event "Back to the Mac", the point was stated and reiterated that they opted not to make the laptop screen a (multi) touch interface. The reason? ergonomics. After a while, your arm gets tired. Then after a while, your arm wants to fall off, Steve Jobs said.

I wonder if he was spouting party line or he actually believed that ergonomics was a valid reason to detach the interface from the thing being interfaced. I know I don't.

If the iPhone, iPod, and iPad proved anything with the touch interface, it's that a direct touch interface is incredibly natural. My three year old knows how to operate my iPod Touch, but I didn't teach him. In contrast, I spent some time introducing him to the idea that when you move this thing (the mouse), this other thing up here on the screen moves (the cursor). And then, when you click on this button, it does something. He didn't get it. A disembodied, foreign, two-step process will never beat a direct correlation to a natural process.

The other day, a coworker noted that after working with an iPad for a week, he started touching the monitor attached to his laptop. He's been using computers for a long time. Years of experience with mice and trackpad (even multi-touch gesture supporting trackpads) undone in a week. Why? Because people use their hands to manipulate what they see by touching it.

Do I buy the fatigue argument? You bet.

Unlike the iPad, laptop screens are inherently vertical. Making them horizontal, or more horizontal, would result in a lot of time spent looking (further) down, which results in bad posture and fatigue. And of course, touching a deeply inclined screen would just tip the laptop over. The reason it's ok for the iPad to rely on a touch screen is that it is not aimed at extended operation with extensive interaction. Reading a book or watching a movie takes time, but not much interaction. Productivity on an iPad basically requires a horizontal physical keyboard or a lot of intelligence in the software being interacted with, such that complex tasks can be done with little interaction. Having to physically support the thing while using it, or craning down over it to use both hands, is less than ideal, especially for extended interaction. (Full disclosure: I don't own an iPad, and have used one very little, but I have both an iPhone and iPod Touch)

I'm curious what people that have the iPad stand and keyboard think about the usability of the device while fully docked. Did they abandon the touch screen for a mouse or trackpad? If so, did they completely abandon it?

It seems to me the debate isn't over yet. Natural interfaces are a huge win for usability, but we apparently still need to learn how to bridge the gap to make them a huge win for productivity. I hope Apple and others are not content to leave the discussion at "it can't be done; bad ergonomics".

I want to break it into five pieces. — in reference to many many things.

I have hummus in my nose. — while being rocked to sleep.

And my personal favorite needs a little context. The metal drum in our drier cracked a few weeks ago, and the other day the crack expanded to a point where it was dangerous for our clothes. Fortunately we'd bought the extended warranty, so the repair was free.

The new drum came in a very large bubble wrap bag. We played with the bag for a while; I swung him around in there, slung him over a shoulder, and bounced him up and down in it.

Then it got late and he melted. We weren't terribly successful convincing him that eating is a great cure for being hungry, so there was a lot of screaming. At one point he cried, in the same breath, I want soup. I don't want soup! (but that's not the quote). There was a lot of this.

We negotiated that if he gets in his diaper and pajamas that I'll carry him to his room in the bubble wrap bag. This was a turbulent activity, but eventually, he gets in his PJs. He's completely out of his senses and flinging arms and legs everywhere, then he hops in and I pick up the bag and carry him to his bedroom. While in transit, the crazies suddenly disappear and a calm sweet child's voice utters It's nice in here.

Then the crazies came back.

I became a papa again on Sunday.

At 1pm, Feb 15th 2009, my second child was born. My daughter, Emelia Isa Lorraine.

The two births were very different. Where Liam was 7lbs 14oz, Emelia was 8lbs 10oz. Liam's birth was long, shrouded in anxiety; the fear of the unknown, trauma marked by the eventual hospital transfer and c-section. It was Heidi's first time being admitted to a hospital, and the event left more scars than just the one on her belly.

Emelia came after only 6 hours of peaceful, natural labor, arriving in the birthing tub with me supporting Heidi (physically and psychologically) and the midwife receiving her.

The experience was incredibly healing for both of us. We were different people this time around, tempered by our experience with Liam's birth and punctuated by our time as parents.

And of course, we got a little angel out of the deal :)

For some reason, this picture reminds me of the Merrie Melodies short "I Love to Singa". I don't think it looks like her at all—it's amazing how poorly cameras capture certain moments. All the same, I did love that short :)

And here's what Liam was doing on the day of his sister's birth:

Being a ham, of course. He went down for a nap 20mins before Emelia was born. Needless to say, things had changed a bit by the time he woke up.

Dear Ryan. You suck.

I've been tagged, so on with the show.

Seven things you (probably) don't know about me

1. I've taught a little bit of Lindy Hop and/or East Coast swing to thousands of people. For about a year or more I was the lead to Denise Steele, teaching before the Sunday swing shows at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland. This was during the post-Gap-commercial swing revival, so it was pretty common to get around 300 to 500 people each weekend. Really it was mostly Denise, but eh, it takes two to—wait, oh nevermind. Add on a few group classes, some choreography, and some corporate gigs, too. Those were good days. I still have my big purple zoot pants.
2. I won the "Tricks" category in a slackline comp for doing, among other things, a 270° hop (still haven't made a 360°), a running 360° jump mount onto the line, and a distance mount from about 7 or 8 feet away. At least that's how far away it was in my happy memory. It may have been less in real life. Maybe more :)
3. I bought my first intimate girlfriend thigh high stockings as a Christmas gift and she opened them in front of her parents. Because I told her it was safe to do so. Yeah. I wasn't too bright.
4. In college, I considered if it were possible to bat for the other team when I heard some guy may have been interested in me. Seriously, he was hot, and smart, and musically talented. Turns out it really wasn't. And he wasn't (interested), which made it…easier? I guess?
5. I have a little bit of extra cartilage in my neck that, when properly manipulated, makes it look like I have a toothpick jabbing out of my esophagus. I've never tried to freak anybody out at a restaurant, though.
6. My mother almost named me Peni (pronounced like penny). That's right, Peni Smith. This is Peni's therapy bill. There aren't a lot of Penis in my class. Thankfully, grandma almost smacked her. So Mandy Jo it is! I'm glad I'm a boy.
7. I'm scared of teenagers and positively terrified of what kind of father I'll be when my kids get to that age.

Them's the rules

Though I have no intention of meme spamming seven more bloggers (largely because I don't actually have friends), I may as well comply to the rules to some degree.

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post -- some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

You're it?

All I got for bloggers are

• J Shirley
• Dav Glass
• Isaac Schlueter
• Nicholas Zakas

Sorry fellas. You've been tagged. Feel free to tell me to go to hell.