Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Outdoorsy Adventure Club does Angel Island

Brian may skip a better stone than I do, but that didn't put too much of a damper on my trip to Angel Island. To think, I almost didn't go because Audrey was afraid of some rain.

It was a pretty interesting start. Audrey, Mike and I met Brian and Katie at Muddy Waters on 16th and Valencia. Brian got us sandwiches and ponchos (because Audrey was afraid of the rain). We got our coffee and caught a cab. The cabbie proceeded to go the long way...which would have been fine if we weren't running late for the ferry that takes us from Pier 41 to Angel Island. We finally get there right when the ferry was scheduled to leave, but still had to get our tickets. I was lucky enough to pick a booth with a sane lady working, but the rest got some crazy lady that yelled at them for being late. Ha.

Angel Island was pretty quiet and not a packed tourist trap. Score. We ended up circumnavigating the entire island, during which time Audrey ate both tupperware full of bread pudding that I had brought for the group, shanked my hand with her "walking stick," and complained the whole time.



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Notice that the tupperware is empty.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Site traffic

Google provides a site traffic tracker (thanks, Ross!) that I've been using to be Big Brother of my blog. I usually don't get very many visits, about 20-30 a day (and usually between Audrey, Ross, and myself). I logged into Google Analytics after I posted my Don't Be Gay! entry and noticed a spike in activity. I wasn't just getting hits from the Bay Area, but all around the world. Check out the screen capture below. The only explanation I have for this surge of visitors is the choice of words I used. I think maybe "gay" could have done it, or when I threatened to put on Ghostface Killah and go "suck some cock."

Just think of all the traffic I can drive to my page if I threw in words like huge tits, big dick, gangbang, fellatio, or David Hasselhoff nude. Time for Google AdSense.

Holy NES, Batman!

If you've ever wanted to own every game made (a total of 670 games) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), eBay and seller sonyabscott are giving you your chance. While you're at it, pick up the game console itself, along with the Power Pad, Power Glove, Game Genie, ROB THE ROBOT, and probably every other accessory ever made for the system. It's at $12,300 now with a little more than 5 and a half days to go.




UPDATE: With more than 4 days left, it's at $31,000USD.
UPDATE II: So there are a bunch of scammers who bid up to $244,000.00. It's down to around $20,000.00 again because the seller cancelled the fake bids.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Dim sum and other things

Pooh and I made it out to the Richmond for some dim sum. They gave us a menu and we had to mark down how many of each item we wanted. Long story short, we ended up with lots of to go boxes. It was cheap and tasty, so leftovers weren't so bad. Pooh also took me to Kamei, an Asian restaurant supply store. It was a bit of heaven (Audrey, you would have gone crazy in that store...so many cute little things). Again, lots of things were bought. I'm definitely going back for more.

Also, I discovered that Golden Era has a sibling...Golden Era 2!! How exciting. I ate at the one on O'Farrell yesterday and their carmelized chicken is the bee's knees.

dim sum


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Along the 49 Muni line

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Weird glass mosaic thing at the 16th St./Mission BART station. Hideously hip?

Friday, January 26, 2007

Don't be gay!

Mesh Magazine posted a Myspace bulletin about an anit-gay Christian site that has lists for gay and straight music. The site is Love God's Way, whose homepage features lots of earthtones and a bounty of people in mid-prayer, a Bible, and, um, a rock in a stream. Curiously, it opens with an Oscar Wilde quote, siting him as a "reformed homosexual". What's more perplexing are some of their choices of bands in each category. For the safe bands, the ones that won't turn you gay, they've included Cyndi Lauper, the gay icon, Dresden Dolls, who like to cross-dress, and Evanescence, who made me think, "They're gay!" And as for the fag music? They've included Ghostface Killah, DMX, Jay-Z, Teg Nugent, and Elton John...twice. The second time Elton John is mentioned, the words "really gay" follow his name for emphasis. Morrissey is also on that list with "?questionable?" next to his name.

This must be a joke. Some ironically cool site. Or is it? I'll let you decided. Right now I'm gonna go put on some Ghostface Killah and suck some cock.

godsway

I just overheard in the BART station...

"When my dad was 16 he had an affair with a 30-year-old woman. Her husband was a military hotshot. She got pregnant."

That's all I heard. She was getting her ticket from the machine and practically screaming the story to the shoeshine guy.

Signed Vasa cubes

These cubes have a combined total of $200. No joke.

Vasa cubes

Pixies did it well, but JMC did it best

If I had to thrash every song I owned and keep one, this would be it.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

FW: FW:take that!!

I got this as a message on my phone. Love it.

tag you just been teabagged now its yr turn tag as many ppl as you can be for they tag you no tag backs

hahaha i suck

my name is young and i am lame because i left my blogger account signed in at audrey's house. audrey is so cool and great. her blog is far superior than mine. ok i have to go and take pictures of food now.

i will have my celly.... so call me?

Netflix update...fuck 'em

I won't have to worry about Netflix anymore, I cancelled it. I checked the status of my pending first DVD shipment and not surprisingly, the date was pushed back yet again. I pride myself on having a significant amount of tolerance when it comes to customer service, but Netflix definitely broke through my threshold level. I think that if they didn't post what day my DVD would go out and then change it each day, it wouldn't have pissed me off so much. I enjoy a bit of stick-and-carroting to keep things interesting, but it gets old pretty quick.

My city is covered in...

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's casting a gloom all over the city. Is it fog? Smoke? Smog? Perhaps that's what caused Ross' illness? Let's all send him some good vibes so he'll be on top of his game again. We love you, buddy! Maybe the air will be clearer in the East Bay.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Did I get throttled by Netflix?

It all started last Wednesday when I got a piece of what should have been junk mail. It was a fun direct mail piece. There was a miniature Netflix envolope glued onto the front, you pull it off and on the back was a code for a 30-day free trial. I used Netflix years ago and didn't think the service was all that bad, so I thought, "Why not? It's a month of free movies...I'll just rent as many as I can and burn them."

I loaded up my queue with about 20 movies (Netflix advises to keep your queue full so your movies keep coming in the mail). Immediately, it said that my first DVDs would be sent out on Thursday, which was the next day. "Awesome," I thought, "I'll have movies for Friday." I logged onto Netflix to find the promise of a Thursday shipment had been pushed to Friday. Then on Friday, instead of actually sending out my DVDs, the shipment was again delayed until the following Monday because Netflix doesn't ship on weekends. Well, Monday turned into Tuesday, Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and now it says my first DVDs are expected to ship on Thursday...again. We've come full-circle and I'm still without DVDs. My month-long trial is now a 3-week trial at best.

I mentioned this to Audrey a few days into the waiting and she sent me a link about Netflix throttling. Supposedly, Netflix slows down the shipping process for those who return their movies too fast. I kind of doubt that I'm a victim of throttling since I'm a trial user and they should be on their hands and knees trying to impress me with their service. A concerned email was sent a couple days ago and I have not heard back from them.

Damn you, fancy junk mail!

Note: I believe Netflix uses Gotham as its corporate font...or is it Verlag? I can't tell, they all look the same.

Entertainment news

I found out recently that The Jesus and Mary Chain, one of my favorite bands, will be reuniting(!!) and playing Coachella(!!!!) this year. I've never seen them live, I can't wait. The last (and only) time I've been to Coachella was the first year in 1999. I went with Rubi and Jason and had my first hit of E. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. Spiritualized played an amazing set (too bad you weren't there, Helena). The main attraction for me that year was Morrissey, of course, but the whole experience was unforgettable. I plan on having a better time this year with my main bitches.

Other noteworthy appearances on the list for Friday (the day I plan on going) are: Björk, Jarvis Cocker and Sonic Youth.

Also, Reno 911! is now a movie. I hope it's not as disappointing as the Strangers With Candy movie.

Oh, that Ross!

Ross showcases his very talented nostrils.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Indian food

Tonight Helena and I tried our hands at cooking Indian food. We made aloo phujia and curry carrot soup with brown rice. It was easier than I had expected and even more delicious.

indian food
aloo phujia
curry carrot soup

Good for wrinkles or full of sugar?

Can anyone confirm the beneficial effects of pomegranate juice? Are the antioxidants as protective as it says on bottle? I guess with a fruit that requires so much motivation and ambition to eat, one would assume that there's a greater reward.

That said, I really don't care for Odwalla's PomaGrand. With 27g of sugar per serving (two per bottle), it's still incredibly tart/pucker-inducing. I prefer Pom.

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BTW, whoever tried to "hide" my drink didn't do a very good job. You suck.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Lucie, part 3

Lucie finds time out of her busy day to make me this Readymech doll. It's cute, but could have been a little better crafted. I think most people would agree.

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Walgreens, or Where to find diabetes in a box

I'm not really sure why the cleanse even happened. It didn't change my habits for the better like it promised. I had to buy these...they were 4 for $4. And the Chef Boyardee canned raviolis? Sometimes I prefer savory over sweet.

treats

Lucie, parts 1&2

Lucie. The Czech. In an elevator.

Lucie has a thing for shoe supplies.

Snowflakes

I've always been intrigued by how the structure of water molecules form six-sided "flakes" when frozen. Growing up in California, I haven't had much experience with snowfalls. I find this very unfortunate. True, I would bitch and moan into next year if it were cold enough to snow, but it would be worth it, right? I never knew that there were so many kinds of "flakes." I use quotes because some of the crystals aren't flakes at all. My favorite are the capped columns. They look like empty thread spools.


A sectored plate and a hollow column crystal.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Photo ops

Local landmarks in San Francisco's Mission Districgt make for some fun pictures.

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Then there's the Haight. First a fabric store and then a jewelry store.

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The spending & reorganizing continues

So tonight at Target I got: two pillows, three expensive bath towels, a knife set, a shelf/rack to organize my closet, some tea, and some cleaning supplies. My apartment's gonna be all grown up in no time.

Yesterday I reorganized the kitchen to accomodate my new purchases, today, it's the closet. Even though my closet only accounts for a fraction of the total space in my apartment, I think 95% of my stuff is in there. I found things that I didn't even realize I still had...or ever had. Bags, action figures (of Nelly, the rapper), zip drives, sewing machines, SEGA DREAMCASTS. I was only able to get about 1/3 of it cleaned out. I did manage to neatly organize all my paperwork into an accordian file. It gave me great satisfaction.

Tomorrow I will make pancakes for anyone who drops by.

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UPDATE:
A car just drove by outside pumping Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel the Noize" out of its speakers. It's the best kind of noise pollution.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Cinnabon

Audrey was craving something sweet and sticky.

Saturday night in San Bruno

It's Saturday night and Audrey and I are headed back to Target for the second day in a row. This time we want pillows. I'm still on the hunt for knives. Thanks Ross for the researching. Oh, and I hate when people make friends on BART like these two people in the picture. Their conversation is inane and boring me.

Flan

A festive meal in Woodside after the Bat Mitzvah.

New year, new things

I've been kinda going crazy buying new things for the house. When I first moved out on my own, I pretty much bought everything second-hand. Then IKEA opened and all my stuff was either plastic or partical board. I've recently adopted the belief that if I buy something cheap, even though it looks nice at the time of purchase, said item will crap out soon thereafter.

With this new doctrine in mind, I've been replacing things around the house with upgraded versions. Yesterday I got a simplehuman trash can for the bathroom to replace the plastic one I've had for years. Today I dragged Audrey with me to a Target in San Bruno and I got a new stool (which can be seen in the reflection off the toaster oven in one of the pictures below, a few canisters for rice/sugar/oatmeal/whatever, and an awesome new set of pots and pans. I can't wait to start cooking with these.

I'm also waiting for a new home phone, researching a good set of knives (any suggestions?), and will be soon looking for a new comforter and bed set.

new pots and pans
trash can

UPDATE:
What good are new pots if you can't pose with them?

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Friday, January 19, 2007

My blog is sick

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to send blogs from my phone. I'm not sure if it's on my end, Cingular's, or Blogger's. I guess I'll actually have to sign in and blog the "traditional" way.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Soup and brown rice.

It might not look like much, but it tastes awesome.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Eating again

Soup for the clean colon. It's nice to chew again.

Mayhem Monday

There's a mad rush to finish our pitch book today for a presentation tomorrow. Of course I would bring the wrong file to work and have to go across town to get the file off my computer. So I'm on BART after running from the office. I'm so out of breath. Partly because I'm out of shape and partly because I've been on a liquid diet for over a week. Can't wait until the day is over. With any luck I'll collapse from exhaustion and hunger before the day is over and I'll be rushed off to the hospital away from work.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sunday

Sunday and I'm headed to work again. I really wouldn't mind, except that I think I over did it with the herbal laxative last night. I've been having stomach issues all morning. Hopefully it won't too much of a problem while I'm at work. Damn you Master Cleanse!

The all in one iPhone

Conan O'Brien shows America the full functionality of Apple's newest product, the iPhone.

The blogger



New blogging device.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Your cold is the devil!

I'm at Walgreens right now looking for probiotics. I need them to restore the good bacteria I lost during my clenase. Also, I'm buying candy for co-workers to get them through working on the weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be having any of it.

While looking for the probiotics in the medicine section, I spotted this little gem. Who signed off on this one?

Friday, January 12, 2007

It's cold outside.

So I've taken my gadget nerdery to a new level. Instead of going out on a Friday night I'd rather stay in and blog on my phone. Will someone get me an iPhone when it comes out so I don't have to use predictive text? Thanks.