Just sayin'

It's commentary through design. Yeah, it's a gift. Not that I'm saying that I don't like their furniture, because I do. But buying and especially returning the Swedish swag is akin to being in purgatory. But the word purgatory, while more apt, doesn't fit nearly as well as H-E-double hockey sticks.

A tale of red zone parking

I forgot to write about our wait for a table at Louis' Diner. If you go there during the weekend, expect to wait about 30-40 minutes for a table! Anyway, while we huddled together in an attempt to shield ourselves from the crazy windy day (the wind is filled with sand, which ends up in your mouth and eyes – yuck), I noticed that a car was parked right in front in a red zone AND a bus zone. I kept saying, "No way! How can that person not have gotten ticket yet???!!! I get a ticket for parking illegally for 5 minutes!". But it was a Sunday, on a steep, heavily trafficked street, so I figured parking enforcement would not want to deal with possibly getting killed to give someone a ticket (although I imagine it would be a juicy one).

So the entire time we waited for our table, I was also waiting for the car to get a ticket. When our name was finally called, still no ticket, but we went inside and I moved on to thinking about food. When our friendly waitress arrived, we started talking about parking in the area. She then proceeds to tell us how she parks in the red zone out front until a close parking space opens up for her to move her car into. The reason is because her shift ends late, and it's scary to walk in that area at 9pm when she gets to leave. I then found myself hoping that she wouldn't get a ticket and felt kinda bad for wishing that she would. I'm just glad I didn't blurt out "There's a car out front that should be TOWED!!!".

Anyway, all this is just another reminder for me that having compassion and understanding is the better way to go through life. That being said, I still think some people deserve what they get >:)

ps. Is it just me, or has there been nothing to buy at Target lately?

I had a bacon, mushroom, onion, and cheese omelet :)

The Cliff House and Sutro Baths.

Our view from the best booth in Louis' Diner :)

Ocean Avenue.

On Sunday Cathryn and I had a lunch outing with my friends Ali and Jed to meet their new daughter (who happily tried to eat the table) and to catch up. We couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise – though it was gusty, it was beautiful, sunny, and very clear. It was great to be outisde and in some sun. I know I'll sound wimpy especially compared to my East Coast counterparts, but it's been a long, dark, cold, wet, miserable winter!

For those interested in what a camera obscura looks like, here's a short clip. It really doesn't do any justice to the real thing, but at least you'll get an idea of what it's like.

A blog down memory lane

Ahhhhh... SO much better than the hostel.

Central Park West about 9am.

I finally meet a guy who has thicker eyebrows than I.
I bought from him Khlav Kalash and some refreshing crab juice.

As some of you may or may not already know, Cathryn and I are planning on doing some traveling in May. Part of the trip is a stop over in New York so we can visit a good friend as well as break up the long flight to Italy. I wanted to stay at the hotel that I stayed at during my previous (and only) visit to NY, but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. After searching through several years of credit card receipts, I finally found the place! It's call the Ameritania and boy howdy is it fancy!

Strategically located on 54th & Broadway, it's right around the corner from where they tape the Late Show. I thought I was getting some sort of deal through Amex for $100 a night, but there was a minimum stay and I didn't make it. I got to say hello to $250 a night! But it was worth it. The place was awesome and located near all kinds of things (besides the Ed Sullivan Theater, Times Square, Penn Station, Central Park, NY MOMA, numerous main subway stations, and a pom frites shop downstairs).

The trip was a crossroads of sorts for me... I suddenly decided to go to New York to escape my life, burnout from work, and to visit the twin towers site; two weeks later I was eating an apple at 11pm in a hostel off of Central Park West.

I've gone through and scanned some NYC pics from five years ago (!) and hope you enjoy. In the meantime, here's a really tangential tangent about going through my credit card statements... What you buy really does in a way, show a snap shot of your life. I regularly purchased lunch from the Boardwalk deli in Tiburon because the Questus office was still located there, Miller's Outpost was still in business (I don't even want to know what possessed me to buy something from that fashionless establishment), there was a charge for Sushi House in Alameda that marked a horrible date, a charge for Dave & Buster's where I celebrated my 30th birthday, and a general lack of charges which marked me not getting out of the house nearly enough.

A few months after that seminal trip, I joined the now storied 20's-30's Yahoo! group and you can see charges from Thallasa, Lanesplitters, The Left Bank, Bellagio, Sushi California, etc. that show that I finally began socializing. I met a lot of new people, made many good friends that are still good friends to this day, and grew exponentially (compared to where I was) as a person in every way that's important :)

Happy commercialization of love day!

Yeah, I could rant about $90 roses, but I wont (besides, they're covered in toxic pesticides anyway). After getting a simple, but very nice note from Haydee, I thought, let's just go with it an take a moment to appreciate those in our lives that we care about and whom care about us. Happy Valentine's day, all! Love, Walt.

hossenfeffahhhhhh!!!

Once again, the internet has bequeathed its vast storehouse of knowledge upon me to answer any query I might dream up. This time around, it was "I wonder what would happen if you ate one of those silica packets that are clearly marked DO NOT EAT all over them?" The answer was but a Google search away. The short of it is, nothing much, as long as you're not an infant or some small furry pet.

The printed warnings, like most printed warnings, are to avoid litigation. Do we REALLY need to know not to use the microwave in the bath? Or not to use an iron while wearing the clothes we're ironing? Or place our brand new 60" projection TV on the ledge of a window? Not really. But some idiot out there probably does.

Rockstar + Pepsi = Insomnia

Yeah I'm a freakin' idiot. Right before a big trip into snow country, what do I do? I doth partake in the two fisted fiery fiend of the fantastic fury of full fledged wakefulness that is the consumption of a veritable volley of volumes of vitalizing elixir contained in cans of Rockstar and Pepsi! So it is now 4am and I find that my mind will not allow me to slumber. Thoughts race round my consciousness disallowing a peaceful path for me to walk upon to the land of dreams. Three more hours before I'm supposed to wake up to pack for a 4-5 hour drive on windy, slippery, rain and snow covered roads. Not to worry though, I'll have with me two stout companions whom I can entrust to scream loudly if the car starts to go where it's not supposed to.

Also, I plan to drink a Rockstar and a Pepsi :D

a hill of beans is slowly crushing me

Yeah I know my problems don't really amount to a hill of beans, but dang it if I can't help but to feel a little down. I don't think it's anything in particular, just lots of little things jabbing at me. Like all my clothes are inhabited by lilliputian spear people and they randomly and mercilessly jab me whenever they feel like it.

Perhaps I look too much into the future these days and need some perspective on the present as well as the past. While I think that a widescreen LCD TV from Samsung would do wonders to help me visualize that perspective, a more practical approach is probably in order. How do you get away from yourself? Because wherever I go, there I am – and I can be REALLY annoying. I think I'm going to have to go get metaphysical on myself.

Yeeearrrrgggg!!!

I just had a major tune up for my Passat at Fritz & Peters. $840 later, it's done. Sigh... I had a nice dutch crunch sandwich at Genova's, though. It's like eating delicious razor blades with salami and provolone.

The war continues

No, I'm not talking about THAT war, but my personal war against spiders. I used to love them. They ate bugs that I detested. They made cool webs for me to look at. Then, starting about a year or two ago, for whatever reason, they started biting me. Why? I haven't a clue what has changed. I even convinced my dad of this fact (he's the epitome of a non-believer) by showing him my slightly bleeding bite from two tiny puncture wounds that I must of gotten while gardening one day.

But what happened over the weekend has really pissed me off!!! It's not nearly as bad as a bite from a recluse spider (don't click on the link unless you have a strong stomach), but the bite has definitely caused some necrosis of a few layers of skin about the size of a dime on my FACE. My face! My beautiful face! I'm *SO* going to start killing every spider I see from now on and will look into spider control chemical traps.

I actually probably killed the culprit in the computer room this morning. It was a spider like I've never seen before. Including its legs, it was a little bigger than a quarter. It's body was about the size of a grain of rice that was a light tan color and slightly translucent, and topping that grain of rice was a tiny reddish head. If anyone can tell me what spider that is based on the description, please write in!

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL

I haven't been this excited about a superbowl since the last one (I'm a big Pittsburg Steelers fan – it was very gratifying to see Cower and Bettis get their rings). My psychic brain says the Chicago Bears will win in a close one, 27-24. My football brain says that the Colts will wipe the floor with the Bears 42-21. Since I'm probably neither psychic nor a football expert, I will lose on both counts, but it's always fun to guess!

UPDATE: Ha ha! Like Bev commented, the only thing I was right about was how wrong I'd be (but it *was* still fun to guess!). For those of you who live like Ted Kazinski, the final score was Colts 29, Bears 17 (at least I got the hat right). People will blame the loss on Rex, but really, the Colts were simply better prepared and a better team. I will always be grateful for a thoroughly entertaining game due in part to all the shenanigans the rain caused.

Rain did not mire only the game yesterday, though. If you listened closely, you could hear the anguished cries of all those poor sods who invested in hi-def TVs. I'm going to start an email chain letter imploring people to send squeegees to CBS. Besides simply AWFUL coverage (at one point I swear they were transmitting the game over someone's cell phone), most of every shot was speckled with rain drops on the camera lens. WE GET IT, IT'S RAINING IN FLORIDA. Now can someone go to CVS and buy and umbrella or something???

Blogging about my blog

An escaped crab leg flipped into the sweet and sour bowl. Hole in one! (ewww...)

My blog now features labels which conveniently kinda sorts my blog entries into categories you might find interesting to read all at once! Think of it as any product which is repackaged as "New and Improved!!!", but it really isn't all that new nor improved, but it IS more expensive. So, if you consider yourself a true American, you must compel yourself to re-consume my blog!

During the labeling process, I noticed that there were very few restaurant entries. Hmmmm... maybe I missed some mentions in other entries, but I can't believe I forgot to mention that Cathryn and I had lunch at The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building in the cracker post. Excellent food, excellent service, expect to wait.

Speaking of restaurants (god that word is hard to spell!), last night I joined my family and my sister's in-laws for her husband's father's nephew's sister's brother's cousin's mom's 90th birthday (you can actually stop at "father"). We ate at the same place that we had Nazli's farewell dinner at. I can't recall the name, but it's on 25th and Franklin. The farewell dinner was SO good, I vowed to return one day. And yesterday was that day, but this time around, I saw the cook use the restroom, and before he left, he rinsed his hands. Why didn't I say 'washed his hands' you ask? Because washing requires the use of SOAP, which he skipped, which is also what I'll be doing when thinking about this place when I go to eat in Chinatown (sorry, Naz!). Also, I'm pretty sure the rinsing was just for show. He probably would've just walked out if I wasn't there.

It's rabbit season, not duck season after all

Apparently, Bugs shouldn't have been worrying about Elmer or Daffy. He should look over his shoulder for hungry North Koreans. In an odd twist to the tragic plight of starving North Koreans, they might be plating lots of giant rabbit in the near future that were bred in Germany. I'm sure this interesting article is making the internet rounds – I read it off of my Google homepage :) The picture still looks like a hoax, doesn't it?

Give me a good, blurry photo...

If you look closely, you can see Bigfoot's elbow and the top of Robert Smith's head. It was one heck of a party I tell you!

I fixed up my Feedburner account today so that now all 3 of my devoted readers can resubscribe correctly to the glory and wonder that is my feed! The service is actually pretty cool, and it was all that I could do to avoid the temptation of filling the right column with *all* of the available feed chicklets that they had to offer (nothing screams "cool", "cutting-edge", and "popular" like a big column of chicklets, I say).

Another thing I've done that's blog related was to sign up for Google Analytics. It's a fantastic tool to show you all kinds of fun, superfluous stats (at least for me) about who's reading your blog. I must admit I'm a stats junkie (as long as I'm not the one who has to gather and index them) and it was truly thrilling to find out that people from as far and away as China, Belgium, India, and Argentina were all somehow finding their way to my little blog and then immediately leaving :D

U-S-A! ... U-S-A! ... U-S-A! [repeat obnoxiously]

It feels like forever, but I finally got my passport application sent off via my local post office. So after a trip to the recorder office for my birth certificate, two trips to Costco to develop varying sizes of my own passport photo (on the second trip I noticed they offer passport photos for a mere $4.99 – d'oh!), three trips to the post office's passport room, a sworn statement (I had to raise my right hand and everything! Too bad there wasn't a Koran lying around, eh?), and two checks totaling $97.00, I have the pleasure of waiting at least 6 weeks for processing (that's only IF they don't find my huge cache of WMDs, enriched uranium, and cocaine which I hide underneath my global warming machine). Who knew leaving the country would be so involved? I actually would've preferred that they give me a Canadian passport all things considered. I wonder if I could convince the State Department to add a check box on the application...

On a completely unrelated but rant-lite note, I finally heard one of the more popular songs at the moment from some guy/band named Daughtry. Is it just me, or do we have enough bands that sound like Nickelback already?

Bamboozled

The title really doesn't have anything to do with this blog entry (like I've never done that before), but for whatever reason, bamboozled popped into my head so it's the word of the day for me :)

Any way, long ago during a drunken Napa wine tour, I came across these *delicious* crackers. They were at some winery and they were FREE. So after drunkenly having one, (did I mention I was drunk?) I loudly declared just how great they were and ate several more in quick succession (think Cookie Monster style). Then I looked up and saw the proprietor with a very interesting expression on his face. It was disdain slash horror slash disgust slash trying to be nice all at the same time (and in that order). So of course I stopped – until he went to go help someone else and then I ate a bunch more. Sadly, I remembered the look of the box, but could never figure out the flavor.

Fast forward to last weekend when Cathryn and I wandered around at the Market Place in the Ferry Building. We were buying cheese at the Creamy Cow (or something like that) when I once again found my beloved crackers! I lucked out and chose the correct flavor that I had forgotten - Seed! So do yourself a favor if you're a lover of wine + cheese + crackers (or just the last two) and pick yourself up a box from your local chi chi cheese shop and enjoy some cracker luxury!

bam·boo·zle /bam-boo-zuhl/ verb, -zled, -zling.
–verb (used with object)
1. to deceive or get the better of (someone) by trickery, flattery, or the like; humbug; hoodwink (often fol. by into): They bamboozled us into joining the club.
2. to perplex; mystify.
–verb (used without object)
3. to practice trickery, deception, cozenage, or the like.

You had me at hypercube, Bejeweled 2

I was thinking about posting a player's guide for Bejeweled 2, chronicling the stratagem I developed for high scorin' antics, but after the lengthy RAZR post, I decided "nah". And instead decided to post pics of the most hypercubes I've ever gotten (7!), and a screen shot from my best game to date (it finally ended at 6,754,330 points and 202 hypercubes later). I think I leapfrogged a few ranks and am now a "Master Gemologist" (personally, I preferred the title of "Master Polisher" because I felt it was a more accurate title).

Do yourself a favor and just start over after about level 50. In my opinion, it just gets tedious after that. It seems as though the game decides to find the best way to deliver the worst combination of gems with every step, so it just becomes more work than fun. But of course before level 50, I still think it's one of the most easily entertaining and addictive games I've played in recent memory :)

How to set up your Motorola RAZR

PREFACE

This has been a long time coming and I'm finally getting around to it! I've had numerous family members and friends purchase a RAZR only to discover upon their first use that its initial set up utterly and completely sucks big donkey ass (and then you know who deals with it). What a lot of people don't realize is that while a team of monkeys were responsible for the default settings, most of the UI can be customized to make this physically fantastic phone suitable for actual everyday use.


CHAPTER I

Basics
So we have a common point of reference, I labeled a picture of the venerable RAZR with the following letters:

A) Soft key - that means this button's function will change depending on what you're doing.

B) Soft key - that means this button's function will change depending on what you're doing.

F) Action/Option Menu key - this button's function also changes depending on what you're doing, but it's important to note that it will always perform an action or show you options for what you may want to do (ie. If you're viewing a picture, pressing this key will bring up options to send it, delete it, etc).

Q) Dirctional pad & okay/selector button - the outer circle moves cursors and the highlighting box thorough menus, the selector button in the middle confirms selections

S) Smartkey - why this is on the phone, I'm not really sure. It's like a third nipple, largely useless, but for those who are into them, is a great extra button.


CHAPTER II

Setting up your RAZR buttons
Yep, that's what you're all here for, right? Please let me say that I will be going over how "I" like my phone set up. Mileage will vary depending on your uses and particular tastes. But I think what I'll be going over will be a great starting point for you to massage your RAZR to just how you like it.

- Press the Menu Key (F) from just opening the phone to get into the Main Menu.
- Select Settings by using the Selector Button (Q)
- Select Personalize (you can do a LOT of customizing from this point on)
- Select Home Screen
- Select Home Keys (and you wonder why you never found this area)

My Home Keys settings: (adjust options by using the left or right using the Directional Button (Q) or using the Right Soft Key (B) to bring up Change options)
Icons: Hide (I just need to read options, not see tiny icons)
(the next four settings refer to the directional pad short cuts which are accessed from your home screen)
Up: Recent Calls
Down: Pictures
Left: Calculator
Right: Datebook (I can sync my iCal with my phone, so I'm sure PC users should be able to find a way to sync with Outlook calendars as well)
Left Soft Key: Camera (B) (this probably the only default setting I kept)
Right Soft Key: Address Book
Smart Key: Bejeweled (S) (I've also set this up as my bluetooth access but for my purposes, I've never really found anything that's been super useful to attach to this button).

You could have also set up your Main Menu from the Personalize screen which allows you to reorder your Main Menu items and make then show up as words rather than giant icons (not that I really use the Main Menu any more since the phone has been set up).


CHAPTER III

Setting up/Using the Address Book
This is another thing that drives people crazy. The Motorola Address Book has a lot of short falls, some can be fixed, others you'll just have to live with.

- Press Menu Key (F) from the Address Book
- Scroll all the way down (or scroll up and warp) to the conveniently located Set Up option

My Phonebook Setup settings: (adjust options by using the left or right using the Directional Button (Q) or using the Right Soft Key (B) to bring up Change options)
View by: List (viewing by picture is nice, but the assigned pictures are too small, or if you have a lot of contacts, the amount of space that viewing by picture takes up is not very practical)
Sort by: Name
View: All Contacts
Search Method:Find (this setting is paramount, as it will now allow you to enter more than one letter to find a contact, rather than being greeted with every person under "b" and then having to scroll through them all).


CHAPTER IV

SIM Card Monte
A lot of people are happy to have all their stuff on a SIM card (the thin Chiclet wafer you surgically shove into the back of your phone's innards) but then find that they cannot assign ring tones or photos to a particular contact. This is because they're told "to keep all their info on the SIM card so that it will be easy to swap phones". Of course this is pretty useless advice because it's easy to transfer your contacts to your phone and then back into the SIM card should you ever need to swap phones (which rarely happens). Also, I think cellular reps are told to tell customers to keep everything on their SIM because it's easier for THEM when you bring in your phone with a problem. But in the meantime, you can't take advantage of fun features like caller ID ring tones and photos!

So how do you do transfer your contacts from your SIM and into your phone?
- Go to your Address Book
- Press the Menu Key (F)
- Select Copy
- All to Phone (if all your info is in the SIM)
- All to SIM (this option shows up if any info is in already in the phone)
- When asked, I would suggest selecting Replace instead of Merge, so you don't end up with a bunch of duplicate entries.

Easy, huh? The process takes a minute or two depending on how many contacts you have. Please also note that if you transfer contact info to your SIM card from your phone, all the extra info you have in your contacts (attached ring tones, photos, id info such as mobile, work, home etc.) will be stripped off, so only the bare bones of the contact info is kept in your SIM.


CONCLUSION

Well that's all I can stand to write about the RAZR. There are few more things you can customize, but the above info should at least get you through the night. Also, it's more than likely this info will work for other Motorola phones as their set ups are all the same or very similar across their product lines. I hope this post has been as helpful as it is enlightening, and that a cult-like religion is developed from it.

Fun on a lazy Sunday afternoon

I'm starting my own fashion craze that combines with the cooking craze.

Cathryn was hastily packing away her "Italian seasoning" when I swooped in with the camera.

Fate is trying to tell me something!

Pass me the explosives laden Hello Kitty duffel please. It's in the overhead bin-laden.

I've been having weird luck when running my errands of late. I finally got off my ass to go to the post office for my passport and when I get there on time for my appointment, they make me wait. And wait. When they finally invite me into the secret passport room, check to be sure I have an appointment, and then have me sit down, they proceed to tell me that they're out of film. Ensuing is a completely unnecessary circular discussion ("We're out of film, you can go to Wolf Camera or Walgreens which are really close, take photos and come back." "I don't have time for that, plus I want to do everything at once to avoid screw ups." "Sorry, we ran out of film today but you can go to Wolf or Walgreens and come back." "I DON'T want to go to either place, I don't like them. Plus, the reason why I made an appointment today is because it's when I have time." "We're out of film and don't know when we'll be getting more, so you can go to Wolf or Walgreens and come back." Pause... "How about I come in another time?" "Sure... I think we can do that..." to myself in my head while postal employee starts writing slowly on a giant desk calendar, "Holy christ almighty Rosemary's baby in a bonnet!") So I'm rescheduled for next Monday and leave to my next errand.

I went to renew my membership at 24 Fitness and what should have been a 30 second transaction stretched out to 10 minutes. It just so happened that on my credit card transaction, the receipt machine runs out of paper. So that of course puts into motion events which include at no extra charge: managerial expertise called to the scene, several changes of receipt paper, voiding my original transaction, and then finally doing another one. I burn off some calories and stress by furiously pedaling up a sweat on the elliptical machine.

Today I went to Costco with a nice digital shot of my own doing for the passport (in your face no film post office!). Along the way I purchased three items: a giant Pepsi case of 36 cans, a fillet of salmon, and 2 gallons of vinegar (for my vinegar fetish). When I get to the door to leave, the receipt checker notices that I've only been charged for 2 items and I was going to walk out the door with a free giant case of Pepsi! I'm thinking, "Hmm... this seems familiar..." The Costco episode ends with me paying for the Pepsi with managerial help and just catching the one person who could let me out the door before she was going to go on a break (she was "keeping an eye" on my stuff left at the door by wandering off to do something else). I probably would have lost it if I couldn't find her and had to explain to another employee why I was trying to LEAVE Costco.

Basically, I think fate is trying to tell me to do less than I'm doing. I think it's telling me to watch hockey while drinking a strong alcoholic beverage and eating something that is both salty, oily, and oh so crunchy. I'm listening fate! I think I'll go do that right now...

Update: The Sharks won (GO SHARKS :) !!) 5 to 1 against the Oilers and I watched it while eating kettle chips from Trader Joe's and drinking Nigori Sake :D

Someone feed this woman a burger

Could someone please tell me the appeal of this woman? I can't get away from Misha Barton! She seems to be on every advertisement for clothing, jewelry, and "beauty". Seriously, who decided that this woman is beautiful? UGH!! Her face looks all distorted and in some shots, she just looks plain retarded and starved. I'm sure she's very nice, and everyone loves her, but please, for the love of god, can someone hit the buzzer on her 15 minutes already???

Seriously random

I think you can get almost anyone to do something out of spite if you goad them enough. It's such great motivation.

The forming of the United States? Spite.
Pyramids? Spite.
Static electricity? Spite.

Fun with Blogthing

You Are 80% Psychic

You are so very psychic. But you already predicted that, didn't you? You have "the gift" - and you use it daily to connect with others. You're very tapped into the world around you... Just make sure to use your powers for good!

Are You Psychic?

Hee hee. This site is fun :) Thanks Krissy!

If I ever figure out how to use my powers for evil, um... I'd recommend that y'all stay inside, less you meet some unfortunate, but hilarious fate, caused by yours truly.

more old stuff...

This comic is from when I had aspirations to become the next Jim Davis. He went on to make millions with all things Garfield and I ended up being a graphic designer. I think that makes us about even.

ps. In order to read it, you have to click on the thumbnail to enlarge it (or have Superman optical prowess).

Shun the non-believers!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

just because

This weekend...

I woke up early Saturday morning to use the bathroom and my mouth tasted TERRIBLE. So I decided to brush my teeth before returning to bed. But of course, being so tired and out of it, didn't do such a great job...

C: (upon my return) "How did you rest?"
W: "Okay I guess..."

C: Suddenly turning away, "Did you brush your teeth?"
W: "Yeah, I did. But I don't think it took."

C: "No... it didn't."

Let's keep poking the giant and see what happens :D

Apparently China has successfully tested a space weapon by firing an ASAT (anti-satellite) missle and taking down one of their old weather satellites. They're still trying to confirm exactly what they did and when they did it (you can read the whole story here). Unsurprisingly, this event is most likely a response to George W. Bush's revamped policies for what basically amounts to the possibility (and thereby probability) for the militarization of space by the United States. Thanks a lot, jackass!!!

Of course, I don't have the all the facts (just the article). But still, if China develops a space death-ray, I hope they vaporize him first.

a digital memory lane

Today I went to the computer recycling center in Berkeley and got rid of two monitors, a scanner, a syquest drive (a free lunch to any non-designer who emails me with what that is), two zip drives, and about 60 zip disks. Why am I boring you with what I recycled you might ask?

I just found it interesting to unearth all this really old data off the disks before I wiped them. It was just like looking through old boxes. I found mostly school stuff, so I thought I'd post a few images I created during that time to share with you some of the work I made when I was young and brash.

ps. If you like the black and white photos, click on them - I made the larger versions 1024 wide so it's possible to use them as your desktop :)

It's easier to have their hearts and minds when you have them by the short and curlies

I haven't felt like blogging of late. I think the optimistic fervor I had for 2007 has passed and I'm quickly coming to the realization (yet again) that hard work is what gets results, whereas waiting around for a huge pile of diamonds with zero inclusions to fall in my lap is less likely to yield anything (though I'm still waiting if fate is listening).

In my continued support of Apple, I bought another batch of iTunes music. I've completed my collection of guilty pleasure listening by getting the last few Loverboy tracks that I liked but was "missing". Ahhh... 1985 how I remember you so fondly :)

In the category of music that might actually interest everyone else but me, here are some suggestions...

Stinging Sitars X 9 - Anjali (as featured in the Samsung Blackjack commercial)
New Year's Prayer - Jeff Buckley (old theme song to Dead Zone - lots of touching comments for him regarding his passing)

And for the music masochists... here's my list of newly acquired Loverboy songs...
Queen of the Broken Hearts
Gangs in the Street
Jump
D.O.A.
Always On My Mind
Little Girl
Teenage Overdose

It's not my job

Ha! I got this image from another blog which also got it from another blog (ahhh... the internet age). I'm sure I've seen this before (probably from Julienne), but I never get tired of it. Cathryn found it one day while surfing around... gotta love the American work ethic these days!

Technolust

By now I'm sure many of you heard the announcement from Apple (the many of you that is that would care for Mac products). I never thought in the million years that I'd consider purchasing a cell phone for $499 much less considering it a bargain (just when I started to think about purchasing the Garmin Nuvi or the Archos 504, too - whew!). The Apple iPhone is without a doubt going to change everything about how cellular products are made and sold in the US and will be effecting other similarly capable products as more functionality is brought to it.

I actually sat through the entire keynote speech about this product and was transfixed! Jobs is such the salesman extraordinaire and it was interesting to see the other charismatic CEOs from Google and Yahoo! contrasted with the old old old school dude who runs Cingular (he seemed like a nice guy, but not very prepared for such a big event). And inextricably, the whole thing ended with a song from John Mayer.

The phone is due to be released in June later this year :) Now if I save a quarter a day...

Happy 2007!

For every year in the new millennium that I am privileged to see, I am filled with anticipation for the heretofore promised jet packs, transporters, and laser beam guns. Sadly, every year I am disappointed. I say, what's the point of the "future" if you can't take your jet pack, transport to the park, fly around and vaporize some pigeons, and come home in time for you favorite program on the TV?

Instead, we have links on the internet like this one! (for the less curious who don't wish to click, it's a link to HowStuffWorks.com that explains how Death By Hanging works). I'm sure not EVERYone is privy to the many intricacies of a death by hanging, but seriously folks, who writes this stuff? It's pretty gruesome subject matter (although quite topical!) and I'm sure even the most pedestrian of the general populace understands what happens in a death by freakin' hanging. I think it should be good enough to simply file it away under "things you really don't want to experience" and move on.

whoops... a belated happy holidays everyone!

I love the giant wreath :) It was a great Xmas but now I'm very much ready to move on to the new year!

A picture is worth a thousand Swedish meatballs

Somebody needs to tell the folks at IKEA that some words translate poorly into the English lexicon. I think this item can be used in conjunction with other IKEA products called HËRPES and TÖB TOPPS.

100th Post! Yippee! When do I get my gold fountain pen?

It was bound to happen sooner or later :)

Iron Chef

Okay, so I'm not quite a chef per se, nor am I made of iron or iron-like in any way (and judging by the bulge of my shirt, I'd be more of a doughy or marshmallowy chef). But I'm cooking!!! Yesiree bob! I'm in the kitchen and making delicious food for folks – in this case, mini bleu cheese bacon fennel burgers. Mmmmmmmmm.... mmmmmm... GOOD! I know making food isn't such a big dealio for many, but considering that the best thing I could cook up a few months ago was a can of chili, I'm pretty stoked :)

The porcelain bunny was trying to get an M&M all night. Maybe he was just looking at them... anyway, I wish we got more party pictures, but suffice to say it was a lot of fun! A big thanks to all who were there :D

YouTube now TheirTube

Not sure how much I like the fact that Google owns YouTube. After all, they had to pull a lot of interesting content off for fear of lawsuits. On the upside I just watched highlights from the latest Sharks game – apparently the suits have figured out that people like watching video on the internet and now they're posting "official" content. Of course, the way hockey ratings are going, they might as well save some money and just skip broadcasting and post entire games online!

Thy Xmas party cometh

So tomorrow there's a gathering of close friends at our place. And of course, with such a big occasion looming and there bound to being lots of photo taking, I've developed a zit right in the center of my giant forehead. The vastness of the real estate that surrounds it not withstanding, the zit also appears to be framed by my trademark eyebrows ("trademark" ~ "caterpillar-like"). Sigh... I guess I'll be doing lots of photoshopping soon. In the meantime, I'll notify the FAA so they can alter the flight paths of planes landing at Oakland International.

Why the world needs good designers...

I saw this strange ad that isn't for Netflix (tricky!). For some reason, someone thought it was good to show an image of a woman kissing a snowman that looks like he has a giant tumor (or another head) growing out the side of his face. Truly bizarre art direction!!

Friday night was a lot of fun - guys' night out in SF. It almost was called due to severe inclement weather, but Tony saved the day by pushing us out the door and assured us it wouldn't be raining when we got to where we were going. Shockingly (and I really was shocked) it wasn't raining by the time we got into town. Who would have thunk it? Like I said, it was a lot of fun, but here are my drinks in order of disappearance (to the best of my memory): beer, beer, white russian, black russian, irish car bomb, beer.

I think that might be a lot for an occasional drinker like myself, but I'm sure not anywhere near what many people take down in one night. That being said, I was pretty much hung over for all of Saturday, Sunday, and probably a little bit of Monday (did I mention I have a lingering cold or something as well?). Let's just say I'm not going to be wanting anything with alcohol in it for some time!

Sigh... I've looked (and felt) better...

UPDATE: So I saw the ad again and it is a Netflix ad after all! Shame on you Netflix for having such a cool look and besmirching it with such an awful photo!

Yabba Dabba Poo!*

So I've finally moved into the world of serious limb and digit chopping off power tools. The other day I used this bad boy to make a 6 inch 30˚ angled cross cut for a small support for the bracket of a new clothes rod in the closet. I was very anxious before I began, but it was all over in less than a second, and it was a big rush (which kinda reminds me of another first-time experience, but I can't quite recall what.) This particular model has a 'live' indicator, work LED, laser to blind foes with, and it even cuts wood!

*What Fred Flinstone exclaims when he steps in what Dino has left behind. (I just made that joke up and I don't know why I find it so funny - I just do. I was going to make it "Yabba Dabba Jew!" and reference Mel Gibson somehow, but that didn't work out.)

Sne Buh Nuh

I'm feeling nonsensical today.

Shhhh!!! I'm internetting...

How can it be Friday already??? That's what I want to know! I guess between being sick and playing Guitar Hero, the week just flew on by. After taking last week off for vacation for Thanksgiving and not getting any work for another week, I'm starting to freak out a little. Do they remember who I am? Am I out of favor? Was I replaced? So many neurosis, so little time. (seriously, I hope they give me more work soon!)

I'm typing this entry with my new fangled keyboard from Logitech. It's been a long time coming I guess, but I finally got around to wanting to replace my 4+ year old mouse and ended up getting a combo set from Logitech's "Laser" series (soon to be followed by a "Blazer" and "Taser" series I'm sure). I had serious input device envy after Cathryn got hers!

It's super flat and has all sorts of dohickey buttons that I can customize (I have a one-touch button to launch Bejeweled 2 – yes, it's a sickness). The mouse can control volume and to and fro in the browser on top of its normal mousely duties. Best of all, they're both wireless! Which doesn't really mean anything for me since I'm usually chained to the desk, but at least I feel more like a bona fide professional now because I've heard that anything wireless is cool.

Lastly but certainly not least – I often enjoy a wonderful gift Haydee got for me a while back in the form of a nodding Sunshine Buddie. By chance my parents came over and my mom got to finally see it during the day when it works. It made her so happy in the simple way that it works for me, that it was an easy call to know what I'm going to get her for Xmas (I got a green little guy off of eBay – the green one is for health). Now if I can only figure out what to get my dad. Parents are so hard to buy for!

Obessessed!

I have no idea WHY I want this game so much. I'm sure it wont even be that fun after a week. So I'm holding back on purchasing it – which of course makes me want it even more!

The act or feeling of wanting is sometimes so strange to me. I know want only brings about either suffering or more want, neither which are very good for the soul. But alas, I want to live out an air guitar dream I didn't even know I had!

Change is enevitable. Hmmmm...

Almost 8 years ago, when I just couldn't stand it anymore at my parent's house (I'm sure I was insufferable as well), I finally moved out. Our relationship has vastly improved since then and a lot of things have changed for me personally. I know it may seem odd, but the whole reason I started thinking back is because I just helped my parents replace their kitchen faucet, which was approximately the same age (I bought it for them when I bought mine).

Recently, I've been looking around the house at various fixtures and appliances and realized how much has changed from my mindset when I first purchased them to now. I know it's stupid, but the notion of wanting to replace it all or needing to replace it all feels very unsettling to me. I still remember growing up with the same awful pink bathroom tiles, squeaky chairs, and various other fixtures. It's weird what you remember as a kid.

I guess maybe I'm just feeling old lately. I want to have the time and energy to simply run around pointlessly in a gopher infested field again.

All of this being said though, I am very grateful for many, many things. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It's perfectly cromulent

It's finally here! Friday at last! I can't wait to start my vacation as soon as possible. My head is tired of thinking of too many things and my heart is heavy from dealing with too many things. I'll soon be happily organizing closets, working on electrical in the garage, and wandering around the aisles of Target :)

Recently purchased at Target®
Holiday storage container ~ $5.88 on sale! Red and green mark this plastic storage container as Xmas holiday central (I dumped all my Halloween gear in it, shhhh....don't tell Cathryn!)
Spongebob Squarepants Monopoly ~ $24.99 on sale! A fun gift we got for my newphews. The playing pieces are seriously fun!
Panasonic Inverter Microwave ~ $88.88 on sale! This beauty has replaced my 10+ year old microwave and has such modern amenities as: turntable dish inside, digital timer, 1.2 cu ft of interior space (seriously, do you remember my old microwave? it took 2 minutes to make water go from room temp to lukewarm!)

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

After reading Julienne's blog about GTA, I just had to make my own top 10 lists of things I like to do in the game... (drum roll...)

10. Stop my car on the freeway and cause a HUGE pileup. Then throw a grenade in the middle of the pile and watch the chain reaction of explosions.

9. Mow down a group of rival gang members and gather their weapons and cash afterwards.

8. Take the slowest, biggest vehicle I can find on a jump ramp.

7. Drive on the freeway and streets on a motorcycle as fast as possible in the wrong direction for as long as possible.

6. Hit a pedestrian so they go straight up in the air, then look in the rear view to see them land.

5. Try to open a police car door, then when the cop steps out, let him chase you once around his car and then steal it.

4. Find a nice elevated spot with overhead cover and only one entrance, do rocket launcher cheat and shoot anything that moves.

3. Making CJ as fat as possible with constant trips to fast food restaurants, then watch him try to run.

2. Perform an end around on a police blockade, and then mow everyone down in a straight line.

1. Steal car. Cause mayhem. Repeat.

In other news, if you're a user of ear plugs or need a recommendation for one - I found a fantastic brand that was recommended by a Slate article. Hearos Ultimate Soft Series earplugs are pretty much like their name. Super soft and very effective!

And finally, here's some spam that I was recently sent. I can't decide if it's completely lame or if it's genius!

When the going gets tough, he's really rough, with a Hong Kong Phooey chop (Hi-Ya!). Thunder, thunder, thundercats, Ho! Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose. Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down, Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on. Straight'nin' the curve, flat'nin' the hills. One for all and all for one, it's a pretty story. wishing for The Cities of Gold. This is my boss, Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire, he's quite a guy. Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy. Down the road, that's where I'll always be. Do-do-do-do, Cities of Gold. Ulysses - no-one else can

Love that irony...

Paper or plastic? Disposable or cotton? Ceramic mug or Styrofoam cup? These questions and more plague our tryin' to be green everyday existence. Wired recently had an interesting article with some surprising answers. I scanned the page so you can read it here for your pleasure (click on the small image and a big one should show up).

The one about hand washing dishes really surprised me. Since I don't have a dishwasher, I have to admit I'm the guy who washes dishes with the water running. I had assumed I still did better than a dishwasher, but decided to do a test – I hand washed some dishes and plugged the sink to see how quickly it would fill up. To my surprise, I only got a quarter of the way through a set of dishes before the sink was full!

So I did another test and only ran the faucet when I rinsed and only a little shot to make whatever I was washing wet (or none at all if it was already wet). The result was less than half a sink full for the rest of the dishes. It was easy to get used to washing dishes that way, and I'm very glad to know that I'm wasting that much less water. Thanks Wired :)

Next big thing?

New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream

I can't wait for the remix versions of this song. This band is seriously awesome in the most 80s-ish way you can think of!