Ethan’s instructions:
1. Blow both balloons up first (to stretch the balloons)
2. Let the air out of both
3. Blow up the balloon that’s supposed to be bigger (on the outside)
4. While holding the outside balloon put the other balloon inside it
5. Blow up the inside balloon
6. Blow up the outside balloon just a bit more
7. Tie […]

OK, this is just horrible: the Fish & Flush toilet.

But my daughter loves it … and you have to admit, it is completely cool in a horrible, nasty, kitschy way.
Tags: fish, toilet, kitsch, fun, john koetsier

My new iPod just arrived - the 30 GB video version.
It somehow feels so much better than my 4th generation 20 GB version. It seems much slimmer (probably only a few millimeters), the screen seems much bigger (again, it’s probably not actually very much bigger at all) and overall just much more delicious.
Yum!
Now I’m figuring […]

I saw this very cool candle a couple of weeks ago at Apartment Therapy:

It’s from Elsewheres, and it’s great. But I would make one change to the design. I would make it just a little bit simpler:

Ok. I’m a simplicity Nazi. I admit it.
So sue me!

What’s wrong with table based web design? Well, nothing, obviously:

Yum.
Of course, I realize that even if you’re using tables, you don’t have to turn the border feature on, but still … it’s not cool.
(The person whose site this is may be an incredibly wonderful “product coach,” for all I know. Just don’t go to him […]

H2O

Originally uploaded by johnkoetsier.

Teresa and I were out shopping this afternoon … our main floor bathroom is about to get blown up and redone.
High time, too …
We saw this sand-blasted glass sink and faucet - beautiful. Unfortunately, due to irritating facets of reality (namely, pipes, […]

While in San Antonio a week ago, one of our local sales consultants took me to the McNay Art Museum.
The McNay has a beautiful collection of works by well-known masters, but one piece that caught my eye in particular was a Renoir. But it was a Renoir with a difference - it was a sculpture.
Renoir […]

Just finished watching Walk the Line, the life story of Johnny Cash.
The movie was great, Joaquin Phoenix was amazing, Reese Witherspoon was really, really good. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. And the soundtrack was way too good - I couldn’t believe Phoenix and Witherspoon were doing the signing.
One thing that caught our eye […]

You may copy and use this image (”Link Whore”) in any non-prurient publication, as long as you give proper attribution.

San Antonio has some wonderful architecture, as I’ve previously posted. Here’s another taste.
They seem to like adding funky little additions to existing buildings:

Another one. Perhaps they’re even built at the same time as the main building - but they sure add some flavor to the design.

Lots of pattern and similarity in this government building near […]

Dallas airport is the biggest I’ve ever been in. It’s 4 airports in one, joined by a shuttle train that takes you on perhaps a 15-minute circuit between them all.
The shuttle stations are very modern, very bright, very white, and very minimalist. Here’s a detail of one of them:

OK, so the term web 2.0 sucks, for the exact same reason any other label sucks: it over-generalizes, freezes reality into a limited confine, and means different things to different people.
But if we’re going to have a term (and we do) and we’re going to define it (and we are), then this ought to be […]

Saw this guy and his heavily customized motorcycle in downtown San Antonio today.
He rode all the way up from South America, and is collecting cash to take him and his bike all the way up to Alaska, and then to Europe.
Yes, that’s real flame - he presses a button and the dragon breathes fire!

OK, three guesses: what is this building?

It’s not a factory.
It’s not a warehouse.
Not a school.
And no, not an office building either.
It’s a close-up look of the structures immediately above the back entrance of First Baptist Church of San Antonio, where I went to church this morning. It’s an immense conglomeration of buildings that goes back […]

Part of what makes a city a great city is its architecture.
You can have great architecture without a great city, but you can’t have a great city without great architecture.
When I travel, I love to experience the new place. And it becomes a special experience when the place has a style all it’s own. San […]

You may have noticed the snazzy new tag cloud adorning the right-hand side of this page.
(I’m trying to be trendy and web 2-ish, and possibly get acquired by Google or Yahoo for mad money.)
I noticed the Zoomclouds link at Guy Kawasaki’s blog - he just got a new tag cloud as well. I thought […]

A couple of days ago Teresa and I were at San Diego’s Museum of Art. James Hyde is showing his art/furniture there.
It’s a living presentation titled “Luminous platforms and relaxed seating” that, unlike most art, you can actually touch, sit on, and enjoy - as if it isn’t cool enough just to look at […]

Yesterday Teresa and I were strolling through Vancouver and happened to see a Roche-Bobois store.
Since we both love furniture and design, we went in (even though we had the kids with us). Fortunately the sales staff were friendly and helpful - not always the case in high-end furniture stores when you come in with kids.
I […]

Something old, something new. Snapped this yesterday while strolling around downtown Vancouver.