November 2004 Archives

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Finally a picture with a story I can attach to it. I was headed home from a cafe in the city when I stepped off the bus in Union Square. Before me was a photo that I had to take -- and I did (see above).

After I took my pictures a middle-aged couple (seen at the bottom-center of the photo) walked up to me and asked "is that a digital camera?". "Yes", I replied. "So is everything going to be digital one day?" "Most likely". "Tell me, what midrange camera would you recommend?" I mentioned the PowerShot G6. The husband then asked about the (Canon) Digital Rebel and I told him about that.

After talking to me for a minute he decided that he wanted the Rebel. I never revealed who I was, and I have no idea how he thought that I was some kind of authority just because I had a camera in my hand. Nevertheless, that was my good deed for the day (and possibly the week)

The DCRP site had 2.2 million visitors in November -- an all-time record by far! Yay!

Man, is it cold outside or what?? It's about 8:15pm and my thermometer says 35 degrees. That's cold for California!

I have been craving a trip to Yosemite for well over a month now. It's only about two hours from here (to the place where they take your $20, not the valley floor) so getting there is fairly easy. I love taking pictures there so hopefully I can make it soon.

Boy is it good to be home! That's enough driving for this year.

I took some fun pictures of Jackson, my sister's dog, while I was down south. Click below to check them out.

I've spent the last few days in a hotel in Southern California while visiting my sister. The shower in this hotel must be made for washing midgets, small animals, or people under 5 feet tall. I stand about 6' 1" and the damn shower head comes up to my shoulder, which makes getting your hair wet an adventure. What idiot thought this was a good idea?

On a related note, I am the Priceline master. $50 a night for this decent hotel (save for the showers) which means one room for me and another for the folks.

Oh, and special thanks to whoever has an open wi-fi network near the hotel!

Yesterday I made my annual trip with my dad to the big auto show in SF. There really weren't any exciting cars, save for a few supercars that cost more than my house. Click the link for a ton of pictures.

The airboat level in Half-Life 2 makes me want to puke. Apparently I'm not alone.

Things are starting to look a lot like winter here. The grass is turning green again and the trees are becoming bare. Click the link to see a few shots from around town.

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I've taken this before but here's last night's version.

And they're not mine for a change.

Stunning, really...
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-11-8.htm

The insurance company finally made a settlement offer for last year's accident, and it was lower than even my lowball estimates. I'm afraid that this one's entering lawyer territory, which I was hoping to avoid.

I just finished reading the special "Test" issue of Wired. It's basically nothing but product reviews. There were many things that caught my eye, so I thought I'd share them.

Stupid Inventions

FunSlides Carpet Skates - sounds like a great way to get hurt. A lawsuit waiting to happen.

Shower Shock Caffeinated Soap - "Each bar doles out 200mg of caffeine per wash -- equal to about two cups of joe." No, I'm not making this up.

Sonic Alert Sonic Boom Alarm Clock with Super Shaker Bed Vibrator - no comment

Questionable camera reviews

These guys reviewed cameras that even I haven't seen in person yet. I've worked in the magazine business for a few years now (though I think my Macworld days are over) and I know there's a 2 month lead time in most cases. So something's fishy... I have this feeling that they never touched the cameras that they supposedly "reviewed".

What the...

The inside back cover features a review of... get ready... erectile dysfunction pills. Talk about an interesting writing assignment! As it turns out, Cialis was the winner. Memorable quote: "Still, we were weirded out by an unnatural stiffness that lingered after the deed was done."

You can preview the new U2 album here. So far I'm impressed, and will be buying my copy from the iTunes Music Store (of course) when it comes out next week.

I went into the city today to meet my friend Marc for lunch, then take some pictures, and then work in a coffee place. Instead of the crap that we normally have for lunch, today Marc suggested The Slanted Door, and I'm glad he did.

If there's better Vietnamese food out there, I'd like to hear about it. This place is easily on my top five restaurants list, and I've been a couple of times before for dinner. Lunch is easier since it costs a bit less and you can actually eat there without a reservation 2 months in advance.

We ordered way too much food, including:

Slanted Door spring rolls  with shrimp, pork, mint and peanut sauce  
shaking beef  cubed filet mignon with garlic and organic red onions 
chicken claypot  with caramel sauce, chilies and fresh ginger  (this is HEAVENLY) 
lemongrass tofu  with fresh shiitake mushrooms, onions and chili sauce  
(view the full lunch menu)

After that lunch, my dinner of turkey smoked sausage is going to be awfully disappointing.

Does this ever happen to you? You take your car in for service (for example). When you get it back they remind you that you're going to be called for a survey and they expect a 5 out of 5 score for each question. This isn't a subtle hint -- you're going to give us a perfect score or else. This has happened with car service, house purchasing, and car purchasing. The KB Homes customer service guy says "if you can't give us an 8 (out of 10) or above, I want to know about it and we'll take care of it".

What happens if you don't give them the good scores? I'm afraid to find out.

I'm glad this is almost over and all, but don't these people have anything better to do with their time than stand outside the courthouse in Redwood City waiting to hear the verdict? Like work, maybe? "Hey boss, can I take the afternoon off to stand outside a courthouse?"

By the way, I was born a few blocks from there at the Kaiser hospital in Redwood City.

Ahhhh yeah!! Now to get down to business: playing games and watching DVDs!

There sure are a lot of women named Jane from Miami sending me invitations to visit their blog and see their latest webcam photos. It's too good to be true, of course, as clicking the link downloads the virus from their infected computer!

When are people going to learn to stop opening attachments or clicking on links from unknown people?

One year ago I moved from a modest apartment in San Francisco to a brand new house in Brentwood (about 50 miles east). The last year hasn't been easy, though I'm confused about what to do next.

Brentwood is a beautiful area, especially in the winter and spring when everything's green. In the summer, the heat is stifling, but that's why I have air conditioning. It seems like a decent place to raise your kids, but I'm not quite at that point in my life yet. There's very little to do here: it's a bedroom community. There are shopping centers, churches, fast food places, and that's about it. I'm pretty much agnostic, so no church activities for me. I was going to take golf lessons but that never panned out.

The hardest part of living here is being away from friends and family. Truth be told, it's awfully hard to get anyone to visit, despite it being just an hour drive away. That is the main motivation for me wanting to get out of here at this time next year.

Due to tax reasons, I have to live here for two years in order to not get screwed on capital gains taxes. So I'm free to go next October 27th.

The thing is... what next? I'd love to move back to SF or at least close, but I'm not sure if I can afford to buy there. I paid $350,000 for this house... will they let me buy a $700,000 house? Who knows.

I really got screwed when I wanted a mortgage because I'm self-employed. I made a lot of money this year, so I'm hoping that will help boost my net income numbers (which is what they base your mortgage on if you're self-employed). Also, I've saved up for a bigger down-payment using savings, capital gains from selling this house, and my upcoming insurance settlement (I hope).

So I could move to SF or close enough... and I've also thought of moving down south to where my sister lives... it's a bit cheaper down there and it's a nice area.

I guess it really comes down to this: how much money is the bank willing to give me? We'll find out next year...

This is the last segment of the trail I'm going to cover. I don't have too many photos since it was getting dark, and my camera of choice sucked. This is the southern segment of the trail and it's mostly walking behind houses, but there are some nice open spaces and trees as well.

Don't forget to read parts 1 and 2 if you haven't already!

Why, oh why, did I choose ground shipping when I ordered Halo 2? It shipped... but it'll take days to get here and I want it now! May have to buy it at Fry's tomorrow morning and then do the old return switcharoo when the other copy comes...

Update: Went to Fry's and bought it. Now the truck with my TV on it broke down... unbelievable.

Update 2: No TV delivery today due to the truck breakdown. Now it's tomorrow. Sigh.

I planted these a year ago and they're finally doing something! I've never seen a plant grow as fast as this thing... it's tripled in size in a year. And now these huge flowers have appeared.

A few weeks ago I noticed that Sony cut the price on my TV (which arrives on Tuesday, by the way) by $300. I'm getting a deal on it through a friend who is a Sony employee. I asked the Sony employee store people if their price went down as well, and they said "nope, sorry". Well jump to today and I got the bill for it... and the price did indeed drop -- by $200! So now a great deal is even better. Woohoo!

I'm enjoying taking these shots. This one was taken in the car using the rear-view mirror.

Well the sun's still not out but it was good enough today for some decent pictures! Click below to see them...

I got my car yesterday and it has exceeded my expectations. I don't have any pictures to share yet since the weather is crappy. I'll have photos and comments soon.

Update: Added some teaser pictures (interior only). Click below to see.

Time to start looking for property in Canada.

It's been a fun three years. We've been through a lot together. You've been keyed and scraped a few times. Together we've travelled across the state (which is why I went 9000 miles over my limit!). You've always been an eye-catching, incredibly fun-to-drive little car. But tomorrow morning you will no longer be mine.

I guess men have strange relationships with their cars. I don't think I would care if I was getting rid of an Accord or Camry... but I have enjoyed my Audis a lot (even with the occasional problem) and I'm very much looking forward to my next one (which is why I waited a year for it).

I will be picking my car tomorrow morning, with pictures to follow. My TV will be delivered a week from tomorrow. Why so late? That's another story.