The Richter Scale^®

Having been on low-carb diet for the last few months, steak houses are high on my “safe to eat at” list. One of the ones I have enjoyed quite a bit in Dallas is Nick & Sam’s, located in the Turtle Creek area, at 3008 Maple Avenue.

My favorite dish there is a long bone, dry aged, 22 oz. Cowboy Rib Eye, which has truffle butter melted over it. However, last night, I discovered much to my chagrin that they were out of this wonderful treat.

I splurged instead for a 13 oz. Kobe rib eye, which I was told was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, although it was quite tender and flavorful, but it was also heavily over salted, which for an expensive cut like that, was a real shame. Mind you, it didn’t stop me from eating it all, although in retrospect, had I had a bit less Zinfandel to drink, I should have returned it to the kitchen and gotten a much less salted cut.

The wait staff was very attentive, and we all enjoyed appetizers. I had a half portion of the diver scallops (delightful!), while my companions had a iceberg wedge salad drizzled with bleu cheese and the beefsteak tomato and mozzarella with pesto dressing. Both of my fellow diners also enjoyed the filet mignon, which was excellent and not salty like my Kobe ribeye. All vegetables were separate sides, and we had asparagus, creamed spinach (without the carb-loaded bread crumbs), and mushrooms.

For dessert, we received complimentary glasses of port, and one of my fellow diners ordered the chocolate souffle cake with a side of strawberries (my willpower failed at this point - first time in two months, no doubt due to the wine consumption) - absolutely excellent.

In the three times I’ve been at Nick & Sam’s in the last 6 months, the Kobe ribeye was the only disappointment I encountered. However, it should be noted that Nick & Sam’s is not for those on a budget either. You definitely pay for top cuts of meat and seafood, as well as the incredible wine selection and service.

I rate Nick & Sam’s an 8.5 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

In my travels over the last many years, I’ve stayed in a great number of hotels. Most are pretty similar, as if cast from the same mold (which they probably are). And then there’s the Hotel Zaza in the upscale Turtle Creek area in Dallas, Texas.

Words like eclectic, funky, trendy, intimate, and stylish are words that come to mind to describe the Zaza. The hallways are decorated with both vintage and modern photographs, the latter appearing to be those of (or similar to) Annie Leibowitz. A fair part of the furnishings and trim are dark teak and mahogany with an Indonesian flair.

The rooms are spacious, the beds incredibly comfortable, the ceilings tall, and the wall decorations engaging (above the kidney shaped desk I’m typing this at is a photo of a young David Bowie standing on a old pedestal, striking a pose).

It’s the sort of hotel one might expect rock stars to stay at - perhaps like a Hard Rock Hotel, but on a smaller more intimate scale.

And, with a world class Spa here, it would make a nice place to take a spouse or significant other for a romantic getaway.

The turn down service includes leaving lit candles in the room to create a soothing atmosphere (especially nice after I’ve spent a long day at a client’s office nearby). And the chocolates on my pillow are non-traditional as well. Ghirardelli last night, and Payday candy bar tonight. Of course, on my low carb diet I can’t eat them, but they do make a fun treat to bring home to the kids.

The in-house restaurant, Dragonfly, offers a fusion menu, and a pleasant and (again) intimate atmosphere. There’s a well equipped work out room, a variety of themed suites, and an outdoor swimming pool (unheated by my standards though). And the restaurant’s patio which adjoins the pool is quite the “in” spot on weekend nights, apparently.

And, of course, there are dozens of excellent restaurants within reasonable walking distance should the fare not appeal.

And did I mention the free high-speed (T-1 quality) Internet access in every room?

Service is excellent and efficient as well, whether it be at the front desk, concierge, or room service, on par with four- or five-star hotel. The room rates reflect this as well, although still lower priced than the more formal high end hotels nearby.

The Zaza is certainly the most unique property I’ve stayed at, and as this is my third visit back, obviously one I enjoy. Probably not the best place to bring children however, although I do know I will need to bring my wife here one day when I have some spare time and am not busy in meetings or working.

The Hotel Zaza rates a solid 9.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

Those who know my wife know that she is a very talented painter. For those that don’t, here’s her latest completed painting:

The above is painted with oils on canvas (as are most of her works). Samples of most of her other paintings can be found on-line at http://www.LindaRichter.com

Her latest work is stunning so I figured I should share it with everyone

I’ve been struggling for months with trying to get a blog set up on my own server, using Movable Type. The stuggle was not that the software was difficult to use, but that configuring it was not exactly fun, the user interface was archaic, and I really want to be able to compose blog entries in e-mail and send those in. While I know Movable Type can do all that, it was uphill all the way for me.

Enter ExpressionEngine…

I asked a fellow patent practioner about his use of Movable Type for his blog when he mentioned that he was getting his new site designed and set up using ExpressionEngine from pMachine.

I went and checked out the software, downloaded a trial, installed it on one of my servers, installed the required Zend Optimizer as well, and was ready to go. Six hours later I committed and plunked down my $199.95 for a commerical license.

ExpressionEngine “out of the box” may work for some people, but I wanted a number of non-default settings, including implementing the software on multiple sites - this one, and as a complete face lift for my aging and ugly Richter Scale Article web site - the new version, still a work in process, looks a lot like my blog site, but with many subtle differences.

ExpressionEngine is meant to be highly configurable, and even for a software jockey like myself, it was a challenge, but as I overcame one issue after another (learning lots of useful information along the way) I finally ended up with sites that I am really happy with. And I see enormous potential for this software. It provides excellent blogging support as well as good general site publishing capabilities.

Now I just have to keep writing entries for this blog and finishes porting my articles to the new interface over on the Article site…

ExpressionEngine gets a 7.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale

First Person Shooters (FPSes) are a dime a dozen, but Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath puts a novel new spin on the genre.

FPSes are among my favorite types of video games, but only when they include good story elements, at least some strategy, and offer a serious challenge.

Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath, from Electronic Arts offers all of those features and more.

Some of the creatures in Stranger’s Wrath will be familiar to those who have played one or another game in the Oddworld universe, such as Abe’s Oddyssee, Abe’s Exxodus, or Munch’s Oddyssee, including fuzzles, dog-like slegs, and various bipeds.

Other than the environment, what sets Stranger apart from most FPSes is the innovative choice of weapons, and the ability to capture opponents alive instead of having to obliterate them (although sometimes that appears to be the only option to ensure your survival).

Where the typical FPS will have multiple guns with bullets, grenades, laser beams, etc., the weapon of the bounty hunter named Stranger is a double-barreled gun where each barrel can be loaded with one of eight or so critters. Live critters. Thus, truly “live” ammo.

Ammo ranges from spiders which wrap webs around outlaws so you can suck them up alive, to killer bees, stunks (really stinky skunk-like creatures), and yes, fuzzles (tribbles with a really bad attitude).

As you go along through missions to collect bounties by bagging outlaws, you get moolah with with to buy upgrades, including nastier versions of various ammo. But ammo doesn’t have to be bought - you can simply go and capture your live ammo when opportunity arises.

Each bounty mission has a “boss” who is significantly more difficult to capture or take out than his underlings, but not impossible to dispose of after many repeated attempts.

I rate Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath a 7.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

Additional Notes:

I just saw the game at Best Buy for less than $30, which is a pretty good deal. However, the price reduction probably stems from poor sales, as EA Games appears to have done little to no marketing for this great game.

Having recently read an interview with Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning, who has headed off to greener pastures, EA apparently didn’t commit marketing resources to Stranger for several reasons, among them that it was a single platform game - it’s only available on Xbox.

Wireless notebook mice abound, but Microsoft’s got the best one I have ever used.

I was at a meeting a few weeks ago, struggling with attaching my wireless mouse dongle to my notebook computer (I had to use an extender cable because the dongle is too thick where the lip of my notebook case is over the USB ports on my Sony VGN-S170P) when the person across the table from me whips out a new Microsoft notebook mouse.

This baby is officially dubbed by the rather drab name of “Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse”, but what a cool device!

The USB wireless transceiver is a small “L” shaped plastic bit, which when not in use, snaps into the bottom of the mouse. Better yet, when you snap it in, it pushes in a switch which turns off power to the mouse. Snap and go.

To use, unsnap, plug it in, and it’s ready to use - no pushing little hard to find buttons on both devices to get them to sync up.

I had to have one, so Amazon.com delivered one to me the very next day, and I’ve not regretted it at all.

This mouse is almost like a meme - someone else saw me using the mouse a couple of days later and went and bought his own too.

See here for more information on this mouse.

A photo of the mouse can be found here.

The Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse gets a whopping 9.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale!