Well, some of the post hurricane recovery has come straight to our front door. Something like a dozen vehicles including a Bobcat and various digging equipment converged around our front yard this morning in search of a gas leak. An equal number of guys are still hovering around a huge, maybe 10-foot-square hole in the sidewalk a few houses over. There's another big hole further down the block. The entire street along our row of houses is blocked off. They still haven't found the leak and may work into tonight and tomorrow. Amazing how much personnel and gear a small crack in a gas pipe can mobilize.

- mike lee - baltimore

Hey jibbajabba, nice SKope experiments. I wonder if we've let a bit of a genie out of the bottle.

- mike lee -

P.S. I'm enjoying all the mosaic shots that are appearing.

Here are photos of my encounter with the new Sony Clie Palmtop at Best Buy (CompUSA also has it in stock). This device, which is NOT also a phone, has been labeled the "Sidekick Killer" by some. It is loaded with many sexy capabilities, but the first thing it will kill is your bank account. Search Google for reviews if you want to know more.

- mike lee - baltimore

Well here in Baltimore, the full force of what's left of Hurricane Isabel will hit in a few hours around midnight our time. We're on a hill near Johns Hopkins University, so there is little danger of flooding, but we'll feel the gale-force winds and heavy dump of rain. I hope my caulking holds up.

There are tens of thousands already without power in the Baltimore area, and our lights have flickered a couple times, so we've got candles lit and battery-powered radio ready. Wife, dog, and baby-to-be are marked with glow necklaces so I can track them ...

- mike lee -

- mike lee -

Check out Aaron's brilliant QuickTime documentary of the new Hiptop OS 1.1. I almost lost my lunch!

- mike lee -

By way of a tip from friend Beth, I tested out the new JIWIRE hotspot search on my Sidekick and the search form and results render OK on the Sidekick!

Besides many expected hits for places like Starbucks, Borders, and hotel chains, the results also integrate well with the integrated MapQuest engine to provide proximity search via zipcode. So if you end up in an unfamiliar part of a town with your WiFi-equiped laptop or PDA, you can search a 1 mile radius to see what's around within walking distance. Or search wider and get driving directions too. All on your trusty Sidekick.

The database is new and still being updated, so the listings for McDonalds Wireless are incomplete, and Panera Bread's free access locations are absent.

More than a MapQuest-backed WiFi hotspot database, JIWIRE is an on demand portal to WiFi-enabled food and lodging. There are also some nice tutorials and references on the site.

- mike lee - baltimore

Good thing my wife is a copy editor too. Too bad we can clean up our posts.

Did you really mean to say "his diseased wife" or did you mean to say "his deceased wife"?

The diseased thing is a bit harsh. ;-)

- mike lee -

On some of the many mornings I drop my wife off at the train station, I stop into the cafe in the station for coffee and to read the paper. This morning:

• A soul-warming story on the cover of the WSJ about a 79-year-old senior who has spent thousands of dollars duplicating and then distributing memorial CDs, poetry books, and postcards of his deceased wife. Robert, here's one more link to the memory of your wife.
• Popular Science showcases the winners of its Popular Science/Core77 Design Challenge. One of the winning designs features digital ink photos that you recharge by flapping them in the air to activare a piezoelectric joint.
• I snagged a copy of the September issue of the HBR which has a case study on corporate blogging.

In a few weeks, I'll be here at the station every weekday morning to commute to a job in DC by train.

- mike lee - baltimore

On my way into the grocery store tonight, the last rays of the setting sun shot across the sky to fill a bank of thunderheads on the other side of the horizon with an intense orange glow. Thinking we were about to be hammered, I loaded the local weather radar image. The clouds belonged to a line of storms moving over the eastern shore. Checking again about 15 minutes later from the cereal isle, I noted with some relief that the storms were headed north and were bypassing Baltimore. Once again, the Sidekick satisfies this curious Lee.

- mike lee -