Sasha Learned to Ride without Training Wheels Today!!!

Sasha with Bike
Originally uploaded by tyrsdomain.

She's awesome!


(BTW, this photo was taken by Sasha's friend Katka!)

Simple Gmaps Tool...

I've built a Excel little program that allows me to create XML pages that can be directly imported into google maps. Having the program in Excel is nice for me because I've got so much data that is already in that format and translates well to simple gmaps. My first test of the system was to create a list of farmers' markets in Seattle:
Farmers' Markets in Seattle

The set-up has the ability to post custom icons (notice the tulips), links and photos.

Right now I'm looking for ideas of things people would be interested in seeing mapped in Seattle. For example, I think it would be nice to have the "off-leash" areas for dogs and I may put that graphic together tonight. Any other ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. And if you are interested in seeing my code (simple VBA stuff) that makes this happen, just let me know.

Khodorkovsky verdict makes him liberal icon

I've been telling my wife (who's Russian) for months that Putin is in the process of creating a future Russian leader, but this is the first article I've read that says the same:

"The jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky may have made the Russian oil tycoon an icon for President Vladimir Putin's liberal foes rather than rid the Kremlin of a potential rival, experts said."

Some questions:
1) Why is it that the Russians insist on creating their future leaders by putting them in jail first?
2) How (Why?) did Putin create a sympathetic character out of a billionaire?

Blogger Stealing My Content on MSN Spaces

I just noticed that a spam site has been copying ALL of the posts from one of my blogs (www.raincityguide.com) onto a new blog using MSN Spaces. When I contacted Microsoft to ask them to remove the spam blog, they say that I'll have to file a copyright infringement claim in order to get the specific postings removed...

I really don't want to link to the site (why add to their popularity?), but you can find it by running a technorati search of my blog (the offending site is called "Seattle Real Estate"):
Technorati: Search for http://www.raincityguide.com

Does anyone have any experience with all their content being stolen by another blog? Of course, I could always hire a lawyer, but I'm looking for a much cheaper (free!) solution. Any ideas would sure be appreciated!

Rain City Guide's gHomes

I've been playing a lot recently getting MLS search to work on top of Google Maps. It's still in an experimental stage, but you might find it interesting none the less:
Rain City Guide's gHomes