Have I mentioned I love Google?

When I first moved away from California, there were times when I would feel homesick and wish that I could go back and visit certain places. Typically these wouldn't be the usual sites that you might expect; instead, one day I might get a sudden irresistible urge to visit, say, the Safeway where I used to shop every day, or to drive down an otherwise unremarkable stretch of El Camino Real, made special by its sheer inaccessibility.

Then came Amazon's A9 Maps, with its drive-by views of most of the major streets in the Bay Area. For a while, I could ease the homesickness by taking a virtual drive through downtown San Mateo or Redwood City, and it all felt a little less distant. For whatever reasons, though, Amazon took the service down a few months later.

That early homesickness is gone now (well, almost), but even so, I was excited today when Google announced a new and improved version of the same idea for Google Maps, which they dubbed Street View. It lets you pick any point along a major street and get a navigable 360-degree panorama; I can visit the office where I had my first job, for example, or get a 360-degree view from the Golden Gate Bridge. What really distinguishes it, though, is the extensive coverage they have already. I can even visit the Pacific Coast Highway a block from my old house, where even getting a cell phone signal could be tricky at times.

Microsoft has been testing the waters here too, with its Windows Live Street View, but from playing with both, I'd say Google has a strong lead at the moment. On behalf of homesick expats everywhere, I say "the more the merrier".

I'm a photographer!

Thanks, Мир!
Originally uploaded by Greg Gladman.

A few weeks ago I got an email from someone at Afisha MIR, a Russian travel magazine, wanting to know if they could use one of my Flickr photos for a piece on Barcelona. Today I got a copy of the magazine by courier, and it turns out that they actually used the shot as the cover photo for the article. I've had a couple of pictures used on websites and in a kids' public health magazine, but this is the first time I've had anything published in a newsstand magazine, so I'm pretty excited.

Of course, because it's a Creative Commons photo I don't get paid for it, so I can't technically call myself a professional photographer, but between this and my Moo cards arriving this week, it's starting to feel a little more like it.

Anyone out there who can read Russian?

Elsewhere, elsewhen

A friend I used to work with told me that the most important thing he learned from studying Buddhism was the philosophy "be here now": being mindful of the moment without getting caught up in the past, the future, or being somewhere you're not.

If that's true, I would make a lousy Buddhist.

The last few days in particular I've felt more like Billy Pilgrim, bouncing back and forth in a strange kind of bored restlessness. Can you develop ADD at age 39?

Speaking of past and future, I found a cool online toy at the University of St. Andrews Perception Lab: the Face Transformer. From a single passport-style photo, it creates different versions of you, changing ages, ethnicity, and even rendering you in the style of different artists. If the "old" photo of me is any indication, I'd better use some of this restless energy to go to the pharmacy for some anti-wrinkle cream.