New Thanksgiving Dinner publication: An excerpt from Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner appeared on Wired News: Deal With Turkey Day Disasters (November 20, 2006).

New Thanksgiving Dinner publication: I contributed Thanksgiving Cooking Gadgets to the Wired Gear Factor blog on Sunday, November 19, 2006.

Two years ago, when Morgen turned 30, we agreed that she could choose any destination in the world for a celebratory trip, and she chose Patagonia. Our deal was that when I turned 40, which will happen this coming January, I could also choose any travel destination. I spent months thinking about this, poring over atlases and thinking seriously about dozens of countries on every continent. (Yes, even Antarctica.) In the end, I settled on Indonesia, so that’s where we’ll be spending most of January (along with a 5-day stopover in Hong Kong).

This will not be my first trip to Indonesia; I spent the summer of 1986 there, when I was 19. The circumstances of that trip were very different, and I was a much different person then. But the experience affected me profoundly, and greatly influenced the course of my life. So it will be interesting to return a lifetime later and see how I perceive things now. And this time, I’m determined not to get malaria again!

I’ve been brushing up on my Bahasa Indonesia, a surprising amount of which still seems to be kicking around in my brain after all these years. And I’ve been trying to reassure Morgen that despite little annoyances like heat, humidity, bugs, tropical diseases, and the odd occasional nightclub bombing, Indonesia truly is a lovely country with friendly people and lots of interesting things to see. And it’s arguably safer than New York, all things considered.

We have some friends in Kalimantan, so we’ll spend part of our trip there. We’ll also visit Bali, and of course spend a few days in and around Jakarta. On my first trip to Indonesia, I spent most of my time in Irian Jaya, or as it is now known, Western New Guinea or West Papua. It’s unclear yet whether we’ll make it back there during this trip, as it’s remote and travel there requires a special permit, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Depending on our time, money, and energy resources, we may visit other islands as well.

Most years—and 2007 will be no exception—my birthday falls during the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco. That’s been, at various times, a blessing and a curse. I threw myself a big 30th birthday party at the 1997 Macworld, which was nice because I got to spend the day with some people who would otherwise have been far away. And, since I’ve been living in San Francisco, I’ve had an annual get-together for TidBITS folks at my home. On the downside, the fact that I’ve got to attend the show (and, frequently, evening events too) for professional reasons typically limits my birthday options. So this year, for the first time in I can’t remember how long, I’ll be skipping Macworld entirely. Somehow, I’m sure, the show will go on without me!

New Thanksgiving Dinner publication: I appeared (briefly!) on a live broadcast of CBS-5’s “Eye on the Bay” TV show on November 14, 2006. Go to this URL. You have to watch the commercial, and then wait for the whole thing to buffer, and then move the slider ahead about 4/5 of the way through the show to see my unexciting little segment.

New Thanksgiving Dinner publication: An article in the Tompkins Weekly, a paper from Ithaca, New York, discussed Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner and featured a photo of Adam and Tonya Engst. The article “Techies Talk Turkey in Latest E-Book” by Danielle Klock was in the November 13, 2006 issue (PDF, page 5).

New TidBITS article: 1Passwd Updated to Version 2.0 (2006-11-13)

If I may quote liberally from my post at The Geeky Gourmet…

I’ve done countless interviews for radio shows, newspapers, and podcasts, as well as live presentations of various kinds. But tomorrow, I’ll appear in my first TV interview—on a live broadcast, no less!

As I mentioned last week, Take Control Books is donating $1 from every copy of Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner sold in November to the San Francisco Food Bank. As another part of that effort, I’ll be appearing as a guest on CBS-5’s Eye on the Bay this Tuesday, November 14, at 7:00 p.m. (Pacific time). This episode is a special live broadcast from an Albertson’s supermarket here in San Francisco to promote the Food Bank. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, set your TiVo now!

I’ll probably be on the air for just a few minutes during the half-hour show, partly to talk about the Food Bank and partly to promote my book (which, in turn, supports the Food Bank). Wish me luck!

This week is the annual Take Control fall (in the northern hemisphere) sale. Every ebook is available for half price, which makes for some truly outstanding deals. (Printed books are not on sale, as we have limited control over their pricing.) Just 24 hours into the sale, we’ve already seen some really delightful sales figures. Since I’ve written a dozen of the Take Control titles, I tend to see bigger results than most of the authors, but we’re all thrilled at how nicely the sale is progressing. If you’ve been on the fence about buying one of our ebooks, there’s no better time than now! Go to this special link between now and next Monday, November 13, to take advantage of the special prices.

Meanwhile, we’re also running another promotion: For the entire month of November, we’ll donate $1 from the sale of each copy of Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner to the San Francisco Food Bank. You can make Thanksgiving a less stressful day for yourself and help to feed low-income people at the same time. And, if you make your purchase in the next week, you can make a difference for $5 less!

New review: Review of Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X by David Teare (co-author of 1Passwd) on his Switcher’s Blog (November 2, 2006)

New Tech Night Owl Live interview: Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X (and a bit about Thanksgiving dinner)—recording no longer available (November 2, 2006)