Yesterday morning when I finally woke up I had a craving for something out of the ordinary. I dialed up restaurants on the VW GPS Navi computer to look for something new and exciting. I didn't find that, so much as a place I'd been before, but hadn't been to in quite a while: Taqueria Poblano in Del Ray. Yaty and I were both enjoying the Chicken Tacos al Carbon when we spied a shop across the street named Cheesetique.

I have long admired the plethora of cheese shops in Philadelphia's Main Line neighborhoods and West Chester. Why could I never find such lovely shops in DC? Perhaps I just lived in the wrong suburb, or my habits kept me from the good cheese shops. Sure, I could find good cheeses at Whole Foods or Wegmans, but there is something about a shop that is dedicated to cheese , like a bakery is to bread, or a cafe to coffee.

Envious I need no longer be, Cheesetique is simply lovely. Their selection may not be as broad as the super-trendy-super-markets, but they certainly know their cheese well at Cheesetique. They carry some meats too, and I picked up some prosciutto for the first time in forever, duck prosciutto that is. I had heard that some places were trying Italian preservation methods on non-pig critters and now I will get to sample one.

Del Ray has moved upscale, and seems to continue along that trend. Perhaps sad for the residents who can no longer afford to live in a town preserved by a degree of negligence, but it appears that the new inhabitants are quite happy to preserve what makes Del Ray such a lovely place to live or visit.

A number of videogames attempt to converge Hollywood style filmmaking within a videogame framework, Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series being a prime example of a game successfully applying impressive cinematography techniques within its storyline.

To God of War creator David Jaffe, though, that style of storytelling takes players out of the game too much, and he's approaching plot reveals in a different manner with the PSP game he's working on: there won't be a single cut scene in the entire game.

[ David Jaffe Hates Cut Scenes News Story From 1UP.com ]

I've always disliked the jarring cinematic sequence. From Final Fantasy VII with it's 3 styles that don't look at all alike, to Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Two Thrones where the game can handle wide-screen but the cinematics are just stretched, to any game that has that awkward pause while loading from disc. I just don't understand. So many Nintendo games (especially ones from Rare) do a great job seamlessly moving in and out of in-engine cut scenes.

I hope more developers take notice and follow in Mr. Jaffe's footsteps.

Internet Explorer 7 contains a number of improvements to cascading style sheet (CSS) parsing and rendering over IE6. These improvements are aimed at improving the consistency of how Internet Explorer interprets cascading style sheets as recommended by the W3C in order that developers have a reliable set of functionality on which to rely.

[ Cascading Style Sheet Compatibility in Internet Explorer 7 (Windows IETechCol) ]

I'm not sure how an attempt to finally support CSS the way it was explained is an "improvement" or building an engine that breaks older sites coded against the previous incorrect model is an "improvement".

That being said, I guess it's good to bite the bullet and do it up right, if in fact that is what IE 7 is doing now. I've already run into some oddities, but at least I have a swell MSDN article to help me pinpoint what they've changed in the engine before it gets popular.

Apparently I didn't fully understand the licensing of MSDE, since Microsoft advises us on how to...

Build dynamic, data-driven Web applications with Microsoft ASP.NET and MSDE 2000 using the Workload Governor to limit the number of concurrent operations that the database engine can perform.

[ Using MSDE 2000 in a Web Application (MSDE 2000 Web Resource Kit) ]

This continues with SQL Server 2005 Express, but the connection pool limit seems to have been increased to 25 simultaneous connections.

Getting ready for a trip usually requires a trip to EB Games for a new GameBoy or DS game. Today it ended up being a new PSP.

I have to say that so far I'm impressed. Setting up the WiFi was painless, and then upgrading to the newest OS (2.6) over that connection was a breeze as well. I picked up a few games and some anime thing ('cause it was just $10) and I should have a pleasant enough journey.

And at the rate they are going, they just might get some more.

The rumored DS redesign is a reality, and will launch in Japan in about 6 weeks. No word yet on the US launch date, but Lik-sang is already taking pre-orders for the Japanese version.

I was about to buy a second DS, since there always appears to be a line to use the current DS, but waiting for this should be well worth it. The current DS has always seemed just a little bit too big to me.

The first questions I have are, is the stylus pictured the actual size of the DS lite stylus? It seems a bit big, which I hope is true. Second, does shrinking the size remove any functionality? Perhaps no GBA play?

Any which way I like it, and will most likely be setting aside a portion of my tax rebate, in a super-special-secret-box to ensure I get one of these on its US launch date.

Am I living in the wrong country? Sure I don't speak Japanese, but it couldn't be that difficult, right?

・最適な長さ・太さ・握り心地を追求した、ニンテンドーＤＳ専用のタッチペンです。
・快適な操作感でゲームをプレイする事が可能です。
・付属のキャップで、本体底面に装着が可能です。
・持ち運びも”ラク”なタッチペンです。
・ペン先は任天堂純正品と同材質を使用しています。

[ ラクなタッチペンＤＳ ]

OK, that looks tough, but Google says that the above means:

• Optimum length · thickness · grip feeling was pursued, it is the ニンテンドー DS private touch pen.
• Comfortable operation to play the game it is possible in the impression.
• With the cap of attachment, installing is possible in the substance base.
• Also conveyance " the ラク " is the touch pen.
• The nib has used the same material as the Nintendo Co. genuine products.

To get an idea of what " With the cap of attachment, installing is possible in the substance base" means, check out the pic:

Rakuna Stylus Buy now at Lik-Sang.com

Not only do I need one of these styli, but check out the other goods available to the Japanese public direct from Nintendo that I don't think I could ever find in the US.

Yes it is true, at the end of this week I should be headed to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on a business trip. My first concern? What kind of coffee can I expect. Apparently I have no need to worry, as the Saskatchewanese are rather fond of coffee themselves.

Apparently there are no Caribou's outside of the US, but Starbucks has at least 1 location in Regina. More likely my coffee will have to be supplied by Tim Horton's, Second Cup, or one of the fine local Mom & Pop coffee shops around town.

Got it:

Traded in my GBA SP at the EBGames to get a few bucks off of it. I found that I just couldn't see on the GBA SP (original) screen anymore. The DS has such a bright screen that the GBA SP paled in comparison to the point at which I would never play it again. Since the DS is usually occupied, I figured I'd pick up one of these. Should help with my upcoming trip too.

Since my website is the first that most people check when seeking employment, check out this opportunity:

ABC 7 WJLA-TV is seeking a Director of Web Operations to design and manage company's group of television-related websites across the country. Applicants must have 2-3 years managing large websites, advanced Cold Fusion skills and be proficient in Microsoft SQL and IIS Servers.

[ ABC 7 Job Center ]

What's this have to do for me? Nothing, just passing it along...