Slick Shughes

Purple

2010-10-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

I never really got behind any of these change your profile picture color to x for y cause, or wear x color for y cause days, but I gave this one a shot anyway. Given that the whole point (I think?) is to get people to ask why you're wearing an odd color shirt so you can direct them to whatever the cause of the day is, I think I failed. I interact with on average 4 people per day, and none of them said a word. I was especially out of place, since my only purple shirt is french cuffed.

The whole experience left me feeling sort of empty. I feel like I didn't accomplish anything. In fact I felt worse for trying to participate in what felt like an empty gesture. But I do care about the cause. Throwing money at a problem is perhaps nearly as empty a gesture, but it's something. Writing a blog post about it, also just a conscience soother? I guess. If you feel like doing something more than pulling a rarely worn article of clothing out of the back of your closet, you may find the following useful.

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

The Trevor Project

Bright side: I got to wear cufflinks.

sweaters

2010-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Back in the free wheeling Napster days of the interwebs, I found a recording of a live performance of Undone (the Sweater Song), one my favorite Weezer tracks. Actually I'm sure I found several, but this one in particular stuck with me. It replaced the odd dialogues that pass for verse with some spoken word poetry about... love? At least in part. It's been lost to the ravages of changing hard drives, but I found this service Grooveshark, which is very much the new Napster. On a lark, after getting El Scorcho stuck in my head this morning, and sure enough turned it back up again. I've had snippets of this poem stuck in my head from time to time for the last 10 years, so I've transcribed the whole thing for future reference. A quick google of the first line reveals it to be the work of one Tim "Speed" Levitch, famed NYC tour guide(?), who conveniently has his own wikipedia page.

(Aside: the same search reveals a Youtube video of same - it's not the original, and the guy covering it is both off key and got a large chunk of the words wrong. Not to say I'm 100% on what I've got below, but they're by far more right than his.)

And each of you is a reminder to the earth of what it's capable of

you are all the reasons, jumping, rational, lackadaisical, irrational

you are ceaseless sieges on the city of joy

the reason Agamemnon went to troy

you are you own gods

abase yourself

at the knees of yourself

intelligence is not a discipline it is an experience

allow it to explode

destroy buildings I'm sorry I hurt your feelings

did I lose that sweater? or did it lose me?

And language was invented so people could lie

don't just say I love you let your love perspire and fly

it is the most profound gymnastics and incredible calisthenics

let me pole vault you

let me cartwheel into your beauty in an ideal love affair

we never have to say "I love you"

stutter for "By the way, I love you"

Sweaters that are loneliness which is an delusion

sweaters that emasculate creating confusion

a giant repression melting into suppression

sweaters of lycra

sweaters of spandex

we don't need them

sweaters of knitwear creating the reason that Caesar went to Gaul

we don't need the sweater

walk through the sweater

the sweater that murders and marauds

the sweaters that take over our lives and remind us that we don't like the way that we walk

sweaters

walk through the sweater apocalypse and find your own warmth

Big Bang Theory Fail

2010-03-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Usually I just get silently (or loudly but briefly) pissed off at these things, but with TBBT they pride themselves on accuracy and Sheldon is supposed to be this infallible force of nature. On Monday's show Sheldon used the phrase "above the hoi polloi." Sheldon would know, as I do, that "hoi" is greek for "the", and is strictly unnecessary.

/geek out

2009-10-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

One wall down, seven or ten to go!

Train Trip

2009-09-12T10:39:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'll post pics from PAX this year, seeing as how we remembered to bring a camera this time. At the very least I have to share this one. Can you fit a 6 player game of Dominion into a sleeper car on a train? Hell yes you can!

Thing I got from PAX

2009-09-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

A hangover.
A bunch of free t-shirts.
A "1337" cap from Intel.
Some sweet castles gear (not free).
A lot of buttons.
Some new friends.
Some back talk from a Wizards rep.
A great time at the concerts and the con in general.
Maybe swine flu.

2009-09-06T18:13:00.001-07:00

Omegathon final. Close to my heart.

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[blank] you I won't do what you tell me

2009-08-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Dear American Radio,
Please stop playing the subsection of Killing In The Name Of that your corporate overlords will allow you to spin. You get my hopes up, and then they're dashed.

That is all.

2009-08-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

Drink up, comrades!

10,000 days

2009-08-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today I am ten thousand days old. This seems significant.

Lammas

2009-08-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today is the festival of Lammas, where we celebrate the star of Falcon Crest.

The Associated Press: Calif. teen youngest to sail solo around world

2009-07-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Associated Press: Calif. teen youngest to sail solo around world: "'We wouldn't be a family if it wasn't for our lord Jesus Christ,' he said, pointing up to the sky as the crowd yelled 'Jesus!'
...
"I'm hoping to set off on my next adventure soon — Mt. Everest or down to the Arctic Circle," Sunderland said."

OK, first, where did they find a crowd that was so into god that they "yelled 'Jesus!'"?

Second, for a kid who sailed around the world, his geography isn't all that sharp. Oddities of Maine and map projections aside, who the hell refers to North as down? And this is me being picky, but he does know he can't sail to Mt. Everest, right?

2009-07-11T12:56:00.001-07:00

That kid is back on the escalater again!

Zee Goggles, Zhey Do Nossing!

2009-06-23T00:09:00.001-07:00

Light Up Goggles - More DIY How To Projects

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Project Natal Demo (6/1/09) - Video - NBC.com

2009-06-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Project Natal Demo (6/1/09) - Video - NBC.com

This looks surprisingly better than I thought it would. Watch the whole thing. Their little "We want to be the Wii" breakout game in the beginning is what I was expecting. Functional controls for games that were not built with this in mind, like Burnout as they show at the end, makes this actually interesting.

Spelling Bee

2009-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Spelling Bee is on today - I suppose it's over by now, but we're watching it as per usual for most live events on tape delay.

One of the words in the semi's this morning was "Santeria". I was hoping beyond hope that Dr. Jacques Bailly would read out the sample sentence, in his iconic monotone as "I don't practice Santeria, I ain't got no crystal ball".

The kid got it wrong.

Amazon.com: MHP The Sandler All Wood Coffin Kit: Health & Personal Care

2009-05-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com: MHP The Sandler All Wood Coffin Kit: Health & Personal Care

Erin left this open in Firefox. Should I be watching my back?

Bacon cookies!

2009-05-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

Running Wk 5

2009-05-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

I only got 3 runs in this week. But! I've extended my run by an extra quarter mile or so. I'm very happy with this.

Trek

2009-05-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Really looking forward to this.

Running, wk4

2009-05-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

So, that push up thing didn't happen. Tues/Thur were my oversleeping days this week, apparently. Also, was going to run today, but slept in after returning from the hospital at 2 am and spent the morning taking care of the head injury victim.

Of interest this week: Mon and Wed I got a side stitch about 2/3 of the way through. This hasn't happened before. Anyone want to save me the trouble of googling it and tell me why?

The stars at night, are big and bright...

2009-04-25T14:04:00.001-07:00

Stolen from Dunford, who stole it from somewhere else. Nate Silver has a really interesting piece on what TX is actually allowed to do by virtue of it's "Hey we were a country before we joined up with you" deal, and what it's effects would be on national politics.

Running, wk3

2009-04-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Continued Success! I've been running out of steam progressively earlier, but I think it's because I'm pushing myself too hard early on. I'm fairly sure I'm getting faster, but that's of no consequence. Plan for this week: on advice of the internet (I know, a truly reliable source), I'm going to drop the Sunday run, and the Saturday as well. BUT! I will pick up other exercises on T-Th-Sa, be they just push ups and sit ups, or mayhaps a gym membership if I can figure out how to get the discount my health insurance promised me.

Oh, and the worst part of my running loop? It goes past a cookie bakery. I had to run through an aura of cinnamon yesterday morning for 30% of my path. So tempting!

Running, wk 2

2009-04-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Keepin it up! Sun-Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat again this week. Monday morning I was feeling the after effects of a few too many after Zombie Jeebus Day at Steph and Tony's, so I skipped the morning and balanced out in the evening. I almost preferred that, but my work schedule isn't consistent enough that I could commit to a schedule and I wouldn't want to miss a day if I'm stuck at the office til 9. I feel like I'm improving, getting faster at least, but my endurance hasn't changed, which sucks since that was the whole point of this. I'll assume I just need to give it more time? I do feel just better in general though, more energetic in the morning after I get back (hang overs aside). Also, I think I need to start eating better after I get back. My current morning diet is just cereal and milk. Not sure what I'd do for protein though. Maybe I just have to start liking egg whites, if not semantic arguments?

Oh, I tried tying my house key into my shoe laces today so I didn't have to carry it, but it went flying about a block into my run. Is there an accepted solution for this? Or am I supposed to just grip it in my hand as I've been doing?

Running, wk1

2009-04-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

SO! I didn't hold to the every day ideal, but I have done the loop around our block 4 out of the last 7 days. I've not been strictly benchmarking myself, but I've been doing a bit better every day - a few more steps, or a bit faster pace. I realized both yesterday and today that I'm now that crazy guy who's jogging in shorts and a t-shirt when everyone else is walking around in a jacket. I blame that at least in part on the thin skinned bay area population though - it's never as cold as anyone seems to think.

This week's plan - keep on going! I'm not quite ready to extend my loop yet. Also, maybe try an evening run? I've been getting out early (read: 7pm), and it's staying light out later.

xkcd - A Webcomic - Matrix Revisited

2009-04-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

xkcd - A Webcomic - Matrix Revisited

"Today was the ten-year anniversary of the release of The Matrix"

This makes me feel old.

Penny Arcade! - The Seventh Spring, Part One

2009-04-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

Penny Arcade! - The Seventh Spring, Part One: "...sustaining an entire universe mentally is taxing, and full responsibility for another person's enjoyment is never something I hoist willingly. I [do] my best to embroider the complexities of moving through public spheres, and the players didn't appear to entirely disgusted, so apparently my failure was not absolute."

Paraphrased from Tycho, on running a D&D game. I've run two long-ish games, Werewolf and D&D 3.5. In both cases, I was constantly told by my players that they enjoyed it, notably in the Werewolf game. Werewolf was particularly odd, as the game sort of went off on its own. I spent an entire summer planning it and got through all of 2 of the encounters I wanted to run in nearly 2 semesters of gaming.

The same little voice in the back of my head telling me I sucked and my friends were lying to me (I know, unlikely) is the only thing keeping me from starting a game out here. I always feel nervous DMing, and I always feel nervous talking to people don't know, so the combination of the two will surely cause me to collapse in a ball of introversion. I only know a scant few people out here well enough that I really feel comfortable with, and there's not enough of them to run a game for. My urge to game is slowly overcoming that, but not to the point that I'll run a campaign of my own design.

Solution! I got a copy of the first published 4e adventure (Keep on the Shadowfell) for free a while ago, and having listened to the PA/PvP podcast I know that it doesn't actually suck. From there, Thunderspire Labyrinth, Dungeon Delve, and who knows where we'll be by then. Now then, to find people who want to play...

Jogging again

2009-04-06T08:23:00.001-07:00

Just back in from taking up jogging again. Gave it a shot yesterday, and I think I pushed too hard - I wound up doing mostly walking in between short bursts of running. Today I paced myself better, and jogged just about a mile straight through, before walking the last half mile of my route as a cool down. Still a little short of breath, but I feel a hell of a lot better than yesterday and I feel like I accomplished more. I'm going to push myself to do this every morning - I've no real excuse, it doesn't take that long (30 minutes including this blog post), and it's a good start to the day.

4 semesters of Japanese and

2009-04-04T18:50:00.001-07:00

4 semesters of Japanese and all the use I get out of it is pronouncing sushi names correctly.

c-o-m-c-a-s-t

2009-03-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Kimya Dawson should totally sue their asses.

This! Is! Watchmen!

2009-03-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

moar funny pictures

Going to see it tonight. Personally, I like Snyder's work. But he is a bit predictable. There will be plenty of slow motion fight scenes to be had, I can guess that much. And impossible, stylistic backgrounds, via chroma key. But hey, it's a comic book movie. It works. I read a review that called him a really fancy photocopier, rather than a director, but for this kind of adaptation anything less would draw complaints.

Confit byaldi

2009-03-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's seen Ratatouille knows its namesake is a peasant dish, simple chopped vegetables. When Pixar had to fancy it up, who'd they call? Thomas Keller, which is perfect, as he basically spends all day making fancy versions of regular food and charging $250+ a head for it. It looked fun in the movie, so I've been meaning to give it a shot. I took the quick and easy way - I didn't peel the tomatoes/peppers in the "Piperade", and I didn't slow steam it in the oven, because I was a bit hungry and wanted to eat before midnight. Also I don't have a mandoline, so I hand sliced the veg on top, and it's thicker than it should be. Pics!

Ready to roast:

Closeup, just out of the oven:

My plating skillz are not quite rat level:

All in all, it came out pretty good. Erin didn't like it, but she doesn't usually like veggie dishes. Wiki says it gets better tomorrow, so we'll see then.

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

2009-02-23T23:23:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Important Things with Demetri Martin Power - Creedocide

2009-02-23T22:52:00.001-08:00

Important Things with Demetri MartinWed 10:30pm / 9:30c

Power - Creedocide

Joke of the Day
Stand-Up Comedy

Free Online Games
More Funny Videos

New kitty

2009-02-22T15:06:00.001-08:00

Still needs a name...

Chicken fried bacon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2009-02-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

Chicken fried bacon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "'They've taken fat, they've double-coated it in fat, they've fried it in more fat, and then they've served it with a side order of fat.'"

You've got red on you.

2009-02-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

Aftermath of Evil Dead: the Musical last night. I've got a "before" pic as well, but it's stubbornly stuck on my camera, as opposed to my mem stick where I would have easy access to it. I'm not really spoiling anything by saying the finale involves a stage hand spraying the audience with a super soaker full of fake blood. I got hit dead on in the face. It was awesome.

What... the hell...

2009-01-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KohXv2MoYQA

Best Ginger Ale Ever

2009-01-26T22:35:00.000-08:00

The one in the middle. It's made with honey.

http://www.tksoda.com/our-sodas/ginger-ale

That is all.

JoCo

2009-01-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Coulton again on Saturday. And again, awesome. High point: my attempt at stage banter that was applauded and cheered by the crowd. JoCo has a song called "The Presidents", with one line for each of em. He doesn't play it often, as it's fast-ish and has, well, now 44 lines with no chorus. He's playing it now, since he had to change the ending (yay!), but he's not well practiced, so he messed it up a few times. Here's the vid:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lku2w2sTneQ)

At 1:45, after his second stumble, right before he restarted, that's me shouting "You want my iPod?" from the balcony. Everyone laughed. I love geek gatherings.

NPH

2009-01-11T18:10:00.001-08:00

Neil Patrick Harris hosted SNL last night. Between his work on How I Met Your Mother, and as Dr Horrible, I've been a big fan lately. Even still, I only stayed up for the monologue, so I'm lucky NBC cherry picked this clip as one to post on hulu:

Little known fact: NPH actually appeared as Mark, the character he's parodying in that clip, in the first touring company of Rent. When I turned it on last night, I even commented that I would kill to have seen him in that role, he almost seems more suited to it than Anthony Rapp, the actor who originated the role and played it in the film version.

Edit: some research shows NPH's recent popularity has spawned more youtube vids of him than there were last I checked. Here's "What You Own":

And audio only for "Take Me Or Leave Me", which isn't even a Mark song...

- Here's parts of that with video.

And here's Seasons of Love(Their Joanne is gratingly flat in the first chorus).
And here's a press reel in 6 parts hosted by NPH. I've not watched all of them, but the first one has his parts from La Via Boheme, which is what I was really looking for. Having seen it, it doesn't quite live up to what I'd hoped. The other bits I need to hunt down if they're in there are Tango Maureen and Life Support. I have an image in my head of him delivering the line "Maaaaaaaark, Maaaaaaark, I'm Mark!" that I need to know if he pulls off.

Evil Dead

2009-01-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

Evil Dead

An hour drive for me each way. Worth it? Probably! It's running for a month or so, let's hope we get a Saturday night free to check it out. Oddly, except for the studying, tonight would be perfect =(.

The Dimes

2009-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

Just making a note here to remind myself to look up "The Dimes". I like this Pandora radio thing, but it needs a built in bookmarking system to flag bands I like. Or maybe it does? And I'm just unaware of it?

Edit: also, "Bright Eyes"
Edit: and "Tarkio"

funcheapSF.com {beta} » fun (but affordable) things to do in the san francisco bay area

2009-01-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

funcheapSF.com {beta} » fun (but affordable) things to do in the san francisco bay area

I heard about this on KQED this morning on the way to work. On the one hand, things like this are why I wanted to move to a major metro area. On the other, it reminds me why I keep kicking myself for living on the peninsula. I expected for some reason that public transit worked here like it did back in NYC, and it's just not that way. I miss trains that run all night. Still, I do love my non-commute.

The Associated Press: Obama has lunch with 4 presidents

2009-01-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press: Obama has lunch with 4 presidents

Did they give Bush Jr. his powers today?

For Erin

2009-01-06T22:37:00.001-08:00

Star Wars Boba Fett For Real Hoodie By Marc Ecko - Marc Ecko Enterprises

2009-01-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Star Wars Boba Fett For Real Hoodie By Marc Ecko - Marc Ecko Enterprises: "Star Wars Boba Fett For Real Hoodie By Marc Ecko"

Blago part 2

2009-01-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

I've taken my observation from this post to the next level. Vote for it on Totally Looks Like!

moar funny pictures

Castello di Amorosa Winery - A Castle In Beautiful Napa Valley - Castle Wine Tour and Tastings of Cabernets, Red Wine and White Wine in Napa, CA

2009-01-03T20:55:00.000-08:00

Castello di Amorosa Winery - A Castle In Beautiful Napa Valley - Castle Wine Tour and Tastings of Cabernets, Red Wine and White Wine in Napa, CA

Adding this to my to do list for my next wine country trip.

Twilight

2009-01-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

I'm storing these links here for the next time someone asks me about the Bella series of books. Some one linked them on a forum I read, and they fully sum up my feelings about it.

http://headtripcomics.comicgenesis.com/d/20080505.html
http://headtripcomics.comicgenesis.com/d/20080915.html

YouTube - American Tax Relief

2009-01-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

"We owed the IRS two hundred thousand dollars, but we only paid forty thousand."
"We owed the IRS three million dollars, but we paid less than one million."

Why would you say that on television? Why would you brag about ripping off the government? I can acknowledge that there's some benefit in the IRS settling in cases like these: they get something rather than nothing. But how could a person look at this as anything but a point of shame? These people are smiling for the camera, wallowing in their financial ineptitude.

Half Moon Bay

2008-12-27T16:55:00.001-08:00

2008-12-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

more music charts

Your mom is a classy lady!

2008-12-21T00:47:00.000-08:00

I can't see a rainbow without thinking this now. Thanks, Penny Arcade!

Rainbow over the bay, view from my office.

Billie Joe Armstrong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-12-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Billie Joe Armstrong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with childhood friend Mike Dirnt at the age of 15. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong were both on guitar, with Teodor Boskov on drums, and a man called Sean Hughes on bass."

Emphasis mine. I guess I was a founding member of Green Day? News to me. I think this ranks as my second favorite person who shares my name, bumping down a stand up comedian, but still trailing the IRA member who causes me trouble every time I go through airport security.

Webisodes | Battlestar Galactica | SCIFI.COM

2008-12-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Webisodes | Battlestar Galactica | SCIFI.COM: "The action continues with a gripping 10 part web series of Battlestar Galactica."

Looks good so far, and it's got me itching for January 16th. Oh, if you haven't watched season 4.0 yet, keep away. The first 5 seconds gives away the ending of the half season.

Supreme Court Overturns Bush v. Gore | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

2008-12-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

Supreme Court Overturns Bush v. Gore | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "WASHINGTON—In an unexpected judicial turnaround, the Supreme Court this week reversed its 2000 ruling in the landmark case of Bush v. Gore, stripping George W. Bush of his earlier political victory, and declaring Albert Arnold Gore the 43rd president of the United States of America."

I love the Onion

Cookery

2008-12-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

I like cooking. But I hate cooking regular meals. Well, that's not quite true. I hate cooking fast. I hate having to come home and cook something to eat straight away, which is almost always the case. We tend to eat sometime between 8:30 and 9pm ever night.

That said, I like cooking when I have time to do so. I made something with a french name a few weeks ago, and I decided I should cook and document something at similar scale every weekend. Problem with that: it takes me forever to upload photos from our real camera. I was keeping up with it too, until this weekend, when I spent my Saturday studying. Anywho, let's catch up:

Steak dinner, fancy marinade, asparagus, roasted potatoes. Nothing too fancy, but it came out pretty good. Next:

Vichyssoise, recipe courtesy Alton. This was a blast, I got to use my boat motor:
The soup was good, but it made a lot, and we didn't quite finish it all. In retrospect, I've discovered it's intended to be served cold, should have had some that way.

P.S.: Yes, I have a corporate logo'd apron. It was cheap, and I needed an apron.

Head Six's Red Dress

2008-12-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

""The" red dress that Head Six is seen wearing throughout the series, starting from the Miniseries when Baltar first sees her on Caprica as he boards Boomer's Raptor. An iconic, custom-made backless red dress featured also featured in various promotional materials, including the "Last Supper" photo.

Estimate from $ 10,000 - $ 12,000 "

Everything you could imagine from battlestar is up for auction. All the costumes, Adama's desk, all the CIC sets, even a full size viper.

Blagojevich

2008-12-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

My favorite thing about this news cycle is hearing news reporters say "blagojevich". That and the guy looks like he should be an indie rock front man. Pop quiz: find the corrupt politician.

White People Food

2008-12-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we went to the San Mateo Harvest Festival. Despite the name, there was little harvest related to be found. Mostly crafts dealers, jewelers, artists, and more than anything else, overpriced packaged food.At 5 to 7 bucks a bottle, this stuff isn't cheap. And it goes quick too. But it's so tasty. And there's so many samples. Highlights from what we didn't pick up:

Wine flavored chocolate sauce
Scotch enriched butterscotch (same booth as above)
Wine flavored jams and jellies (oddly, different booth from above)
Cake in a box (for like 10 bucks a pop. I mean come on, buy some duncan hines)
Fudge
Bar-b-que sauce
Soups
Cheese
Cheese soups

The list goes on and on. We see this sort of thing every week, at the farmer's market, but this was a whole different scale. There's an odd sort of buyer's remorse inherent in these things. They seem like such a good idea at the time, but really now, they're not all that special. And it's hard to find a good reason to use it, I feel the need to invite someone over to crack open the jams in that picture.

Oh, also, apparently Jossie wants some too.

Party Planning: Seeking the Proper Tone - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

2008-12-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

Party Planning: Seeking the Proper Tone - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com: "The most elaborate presidential inaugural parade took place during one of the nation’s biggest economic expansions.

In 1953, in the postwar boom, the newly sworn-in president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, led a convoy up Pennsylvania Avenue with 73 bands, 59 floats, 350 horses, 3 elephants, an Alaskan dog team and military vehicles. There were 25,000 foot marchers, and it lasted four and a half hours. (It was deemed so excessive that subsequent parades were limited to 15,000 marchers.)

Perhaps the most austere was in 1945, when the nation was still at war and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on his fourth inauguration, was in failing health. There was no parade. He took the oath on the South Portico of the White House in a ceremony that lasted just 14 minutes. He wanted chicken a la king to be served for lunch to his guests, but his housekeeper said she could not keep it hot and instead served cold chicken salad, rolls, coffee and cake, unfrosted. Wartime rationing meant no butter for the rolls.

It is safe to say that Mr. Obama’s inauguration will fall somewhere in between."

Speaks for itself

2008-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

You can stone your wife
Or sell your daughter
Into slavery
--Well we ignore those verses
Well then friend it seems to me
You pick and choose
Well please choose love instead of hate
Besides your nation
Was built on separation
Of church and state!

Deacadence

2008-12-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

Bacon and pineapple pizza.

DISTUBINGcats

2008-12-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

more animals

Rockefeller Center lights tree in annual ceremony

2008-12-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press

I watched the lighting thing on NBC tonight, despite the fact I never watched it back in New York and like all things west coast, Live here means Live (from a previously recorded broadcast). Even just on screen it's an impressive looking thing, and makes me wish I was back in the city. I've heard SF has a tree, but I've yet to see it and I'm fair sure it doesn't measure up.

Oh, one of the many pointless performances was the Jonas Brothers. Yes, I know. The remote was out of reach. There's three of them, one of whom only sings. The singer was not the lead vocalist on the song they performed. Something is wrong with that.

Most depressing thing ever.

2008-12-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

For those who think they enjoied yams thursday

2008-11-29T23:21:00.001-08:00

Mostly for Erin, really, since I have to try to re convince her of this every time we buy sweet potatoes.

There. If Alton says it, you know it must be so.

All Christmas music, all the time

2008-11-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

This started at least a week ago. I mean, come on, is that really necessary? If you want to hear non stop christmas music this time of year, couldn't you just go into any store anywhere? I find it hard to believe that there are people actively seeking this sort of thing.

96.5 KOIT FM - Lite Rock, Less Talk

Out of 465 employees at

2008-11-28T11:49:00.001-08:00

Out of 465 employees at my company, 262 have the day off. I'm one of the lucky 203.

"Well I want in. Borg

2008-11-16T16:52:00.001-08:00

"Well I want in. Borg me up!" -Erin, on her envy of my internet based knowledge of all things pop culture.

2008-11-15T21:14:00.000-08:00

French food on the go!

2008-11-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

2008-11-15T19:49:00.001-08:00

Roast Chicken Nouvelle Cuisine

2008-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Above is in progress as I write this. It's... challenging. I haven't cooked anything this complex in quite some time. Probably not since March, when I made a leg of lamb when my mother was our here. I've modified the recipe a bit, most notably in that I'm using bone-in chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, and I think I messed up the proportions of vegetables to stock, but only time will tell. Time, of course, is something I'm short on, so I'm a bit worried about it finishing in time. I'm delivering it to Erin at Borders at 5, which as soon as I started, at 3, I realized was a mistake. Not only is this complex and time consuming to prepare, it's complex to serve, and I'm going to have to pack it into gladware. This of course also means I can't serve wine with it, or have a glass now for that matter, which I could really go for. Meat thermometer says it will be done in 10 minutes, but I don't know if I buy that.

I'll take pictures, if the camera battery charges enough in the next half hour.

Edit: I was right on the time, didn't have the probe in far enough. Will this all be done in 15 minutes? Unlikely.

Edit 2: Chicken done in time-ish. Rice will be done at 5 exactly.

"Only when you know the rules backwards and forward should you proceed to break them."

2008-11-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know where this quote is from? I heard it on NPR's Selected Shorts, in a reading of “Stump Louie” by Lisa Halliday, where it's attributed to Michealgelo, but wikiquote doesn't agree and google doesn't help. Incidentally, the story is set in Albany. I hadn't even noticed that when I heard it on the radio.

Failure of Feral Cats Roundup Has Explaination

2008-11-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

From "All Things Considered" yesterday:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96922216

Would anything at all motivate your average person short of having a feral cat eat his face? I doubt it.

SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters - Yahoo! News

2008-11-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters - Yahoo! News: "COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him 'constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.'"

Just generically opposing pro-choice candidates is one thing, but this is a bit precise. How's that tax exemption treating you, Catholic Church?

BTW, I'm using the google toolbar (goobar?) to post this, which makes posting links and whatnot significantly easier.

Prop 8

2008-11-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

The bit in the Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert clips about African American turn out is a bit misleading, as Nate Silver points out. He's also a bit more gentile about the truly relevant point than Dan Savage was:

...the older voters aren't going to be around for all that much longer, and they'll gradually be cycled out and replaced by younger voters who grew up in a more tolerant era.

Top Chef Season 5

2008-11-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

...starts tonight. While I'm happy to have my favorite cooking show back, and doubly so to have it based in NYC this year, I find the logo a bit disturbing:

On the other hand, this Statue of Liberty will be better equipped to handle any marshmallow men that might show up.

The West Wing

2008-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

So Bravo runs two episodes of The West Wing every morning. 8am - 10am. Which means I've been tending to get into work at 10:15 or so. Friday just finished out the series, so I was hoping I could shift my schedule a bit earlier. But here I am, watching season 1 ep1 and ep2.

Mind you, I own the entire series box set on DVD.

iTunes

2008-11-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

I recently merged the music libraries from the several computers we've owned over the years onto Erin's laptop. As may be expected, there was quite a bit of overlap between them, and iTunes isn't quite smart enough to realize it's got two of the same song, so you wind up with "Paranoid Android.mp3", "Paranoid Android 1.mp3", "Paranoid Android 2.mp3" all in the same directory. As a result, I'm been going through track by track checking for repeats. On the one hand, it's a great way to remember all the music I forgot I owned (or "owned", as the case may be). On the other hand, we're talking about a library of 6,600 tracks, just about 27.5 GB, so it's going to take a while. Honestly, I would have left it as is, but our iPods are both only 30GB, and between the music, podcasts, and video, it just wouldn't fit. Since I'd have to go through the whole of it anyway to pick what I didn't want synced, it can't hurt to clear out the trash on the way.

Notes along the way:
Most frustrating part of this task - incorrectly formatted ID3 tags (mostly the title of the song containing " - "). Worse yet - the same, plus the artist bit is wrong. I mean come on, The Beatles did not sing "Love Potion #9". Barenaked Ladies did not sing "Buddy Holly". Worse yet - the same, but I can't figure out who the correct artist is. Most in this category seem to be listed as Dave Matthews songs. I mean damn, they did alot of coversongs, c'mon!

Must... Resist urge... to delete all of Erin's Creed tracks...

I still have a copy of my all time favorite holiday song. It's got some competition this year though.

Guilty Pleasure #1: Fall Out Boy. After going to see them back in Summer '07, and realizing the then current Pop Punk/"Emo" movement was this decade's answer to Boy Bands, I stopped listening to them altogether. But the few tracks they have on Rock Band piqued my interest in them again, and damn if their tracks aren't catchy as hell. Fun Fact about that show in 2007 - they did a cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It", and I'm pretty sure Adam, Erin, and I were the only ones in our section who knew what song it was, or even that it was a cover.

No many how times I tell it not to "ask me this again", iTunes insists on double confirmation before deleting anything.

I have been slowly amassing a large quantity of Greatest Hits CD's. Yes, I know, Greatest Hits albums are for housewives and little girls. A partial list: ABBA, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Billy Joel, CCR, CSN, Bowie, The Doors, Electric Light Orchestra. That's A through E.

OK, 312 duplicates removed, that's enough for today. Library size now 26.21 GB

Election running too long

2008-11-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

I tried to stay up to see the Prop 8, GA, and Franken results, but it's too damn late. Also, AK and OR, your races are far closer than they have any business being. I expect satisfaction by the time I wake up in 7 hours.

Obama-rama live blog?

2008-11-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

Short but powerful. The next year is going to be interesting as hell.

Whiskey refill, yes we can!

I suddenly feel like I'm in church.

Yes We Can!

Only took him 10 minutes to start talking about re-election.

It's going to be nice to have a well spoken president again.

Obama's stage is just far more impressive than McCain's.

That's a lot of flags.

I've never done this live blog thing before, and it's not like anyone's reading this, I'll give it a shot anyway.

Jameson 12 year

2008-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

My bottle is running low. I'm at 250 ml or so left of 750 ml. I'm leaving out some, I'm sure, but the following are my reasons for consumption:

Bachelor Party
Wedding's Eve
9/11 (more or less annually)
Getting pay bumps/promotions
Moving to SF
Obama wins

Looks like I may need another jigger, as Prop 8 might be failing, but you can't win them all. I'm thinking of replacing it with a bottle of 18 year when it drains out, but that's a hell of an investment.

Also, Erin is drunk on Amaretto. I don't have a problem with this. She tastes like Hazelnut!

GObama! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Make Sure You Get Your Riboflavin

2008-11-02T00:18:00.000-07:00

Crystal Spring

2008-10-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I noticed as soon as we moved out here that google maps were more accurate, which does make sense, we live about 15 minuets away from the google campus. But I came across something today while searching for a bakery that really impressed me.

View Larger Map

It's the clouds, reflected in the water. I've driven past that reservoir before, and when it's still, it does have that mirror finish. The aerial view is something else, though.

2008-10-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

I really should make a post that doesn't rely on Daily Show videos some time, but I just love it when Jon Stewart gets mad. Like, really mad. Wild untamed rage starts at about 6:15.

I should have posted this yesterday

2008-09-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

but now's almost as good.

"The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. And now it's gone. And they attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strenght and commerce. And it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is the Statue of Liberty. You can't beat that." - Jon Stewart, 9-20-2001

My last view of the towers was from Jersey, flanking the stage of Liberty state park on one side with the Statue of Liberty on the other. I'll never forget that. I'll also never forget my first trip back, on the Greyhound, going though Jersey and not seeing the towers. I'll never forget that day, the numbness, the not knowing.

I just realized I'm unintentionally using the "never forget" meme that has long been scornfully associated with those who experienced this tragedy from afar, and I'm almost tempted to edit it out. It's not that I mean to look down on what they felt from this. I know that everyone was affected in some way, and I know many were affected more than me. I've just listened to David Cross to many times, and it doesn't feel right speaking about this without being as expressive and eloquent as possible. This was the most important shared event of our lifetime, and to fall back on "Never Forget" and "United We Stand" seems a disservice.

Anyway.

An inch one way or the other, a butterfly's wing flap as it were, and the effect on my life would have been far greater. I still can't think about it without feeling empty. I'm... I'm going to have a glass of 12 year now.

PAX: the short version

2008-09-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I've got a slew of stuff from this weekend - but no pictures! we forgot the camera. It all boils down to: we're going next year, and to PAX East in Feb 2010. This is the high point of the weekend:

2008-08-12T21:02:00.001-07:00

Why does making new friends feel like asking someone out on a date?

Magic Hat

2008-08-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

I just realized I went my whole NY trip without Magic Hat. Damn.

All kids out of the pool

2008-08-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

By seemingly random chance, the best line up of [adult swim] episodes is on tonight. The robot ep of Sealab, the first Mooninite ep on Aqua Teen, and Knifin' Around. I am a happy geek.

Dentistry

2008-07-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

I got 5 fillings today. It was only supposed to be 4, but I guess they missed one. I don't think they charged me for it though, so there's that. It took way too long and way too much Novocaine to get my lower jaw numbed, not to mention the pain of the the trial and error checking to see if it had kicked in yet. As a result, the left side of my face was numb until about 2 this afternoon. Between licking my lips and my hair being mussed from sitting in the chair for 2 hours, I was feeling like the Joker all the way up to lunch. "Well hello beautiful!"

The Daily Show

2008-07-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Every time I watch the Daily Show, and I mean every time, I ask myself why I don't watch it every night. Now that the full eps are online, mayhaps I'll start in on watching the weeks worth on the weekends. The commentary is spot on, Jon Stewart's delivery never fails, and the guests are full of win. Watch the below bit on don't ask/don't tell.

Flight 595

2008-07-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

I'm back in the Bay Area. I got in something like 14 hours late. Flight out of Omaha to Denver was delayed from 4pm to just past midnight. I missed my connection (as you may expect), got booked on a flight from Denver -> SFO at 6am, that one got canceled, got another at 8:30am. Slept (if you could call it that) on the floor at the gate in Denver.

All the shops in OMA closed at 8, right after I had my first, and thus only, 6 dollar beer. It wasn't anything special (Bud was 5.25). Denver's shops must have closed at some point before I got there, as it was fairly deserted there. This meant I had next to nothing to eat from 2pm central when I had lunch (Vindaloo!) to nearly 7am mountain. Lucky for me I had a box of granola bars with me, so I made do.

That's about it for the end of the trip. I'll never fly United again if I can avoid it.

TDK++

2008-07-24T21:33:00.001-07:00

Dark Knight view count: 2. Next up: IMAX in SF (hopefully).

I went by myself, as my cohorts go to bed early like. They did come with me to mark another fast food chain to my list: Sonic. I was tired of seeing those commercials without ever going to one, which I suppose makes it effective advertizing. Perhaps not cost effective, but I'm in no place to argue. Grilled chicken sangwich, vanilla coke, and a chocolate malt. Traditional drive in grub. Well, traditionalish, should have had a burger/fries, but I stand by the Vanilla Coke and the Malt. It was pretty good, I've got to say. The grilled chicken in particular was quite good, and I do love me some vanilla Coke. So much so, in fact, that I broke my HFCS rule for it.

Oh, something else: anyone who's played any GTA game can tell you you're more likely to see other cars of the same model you're driving. There's a real reason for this in that sort of game, it's a system memory thing. The same sort of thing happens to me all the time now. Ever since Adam got his Mustang, I see them everywhere. Now that I'm driving a wonky little PT Cruiser, I see them all the time. Here's a picture (unrealted to this concept, but funny none the less) - pastel car showdown!

PT Bruiser

2008-07-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

There's a hotel room and rental car shortage in Omaha. Word is the Junior Olympic Swim Trials are in town, so the company was scrounging to find rooms and cars for us this week. As a result, I've got sort of bottom of the barrel on both counts:

No, I'm not in a basement, in fact I'm on the second floor. That tiny little thing on the upper left is a window. I have a (sort of) view of the roof of the bar down stairs, where they charge 5 bucks for a beer.

That's my car. It's even more obnoxiously blue in person. I can't help picturing it parked at a beach with a surf board sticking out the back. Anyone who's played any Grand Theft Auto games knows you see the car you're driving on the road. In video games, it's due to memory constraints. In real life, it happens the same way, but it's just a mental thing. I've been seeing them all over town starting with following one all the way across town from the airport. None quite as eye catching as mine though. My old Albany cohorts spotted me driving back from the office tonight, and came back to pick me up for dinner and beers. Score!

Dollhouse

2008-07-22T19:06:00.001-07:00

It's all happening again! The World Series is on fox again this year. Run while you can Joss!

Fat Man!

2008-07-22T18:33:00.001-07:00

One more post vacation thing: it may or may not have come up the last time I saw you, but I lost 15 pounds. I made sure not to bring it up unless it was brought up, so I didn't point it out where no one noticed. I tried to keep to eating healthy in NY, and I did ok in Auburn, but by the time I hit Albany it was over. PF Changs, Hibachi, BBQ, breakfast, and so on. It just got worse in NYC: pizza (one of my old favorites sucks now, BOO!), hot dogs, beers, it was all over the place. On the other hand, I did alot of walking. Anywho, I was expecting a bit of a roll back. Low and behold, on return, my weight is unchanged. I fell off the push up wagon, so I think I lost the little muscle I had gained, but my pants still feel loose, so I couldn't have put that much back on. There's a gym here in the hotel in OMA, mayhaps I'll hit that up.

Of course, I just had a 13 ounce NY strip and a baked potato, so my number has probably increased. Time shall tell.