Sometimes people can be nice

Helena and I took a cab to Le Colonial to meet Mark for dinner. When we got there, I didn't have my cell phone and figured I left it at Helena's. Towards the end of our meal, Helena gets a call on her phone from my number. She's totally weirded out by it but answers. A passenger in the same cab we took earlier found my phone and called the last number I dialed.

I asked her to send the cab come back my way and I would pay for the trip. I should have offered to pay her fare, as well, but didn't think about that at the time since my only concern then was to get my phone back. Thank you anonymous cab rider! I owe you one.

Are you 'aving a laugh?!

Audrey and I patiently wait our turn to be extras in a bank security video. He's 'aving a laugh!!

UPDATE: I made $200 being an extra today, but I also got injured by Ragoni's (a shoe store with many ugly shoes) metal storefront gate. After the thing fell on my shoulder and scrapped the skin off the back of my heel (see Fig. 1 below), the guy who worked there came out and chided at us for standing in front of his store. May karma shove something really large up your hole, shoe man.


Fig. 1

Fun Friday

There are surprisingly a lot of people at the gym on Friday night. I'm starting to worry about my Bay-to-Breakers run. It's a month away and there's no way I think I can run a 12k (7.something miles) course all the way through. Well, actually, I ran almost 5 miles today and wasn't too tired afterward. Runners have 3 1/2 hours to cross the finish line; after that they take it down and you'd be running aimlessly around the city.

Right now I'm at Helena's waiting for Morrissey to come on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Actually, she's waiting for him to come on and I'm looking up pictures of Carrot Top and his waxy-lookin' skin.


CT with Sly and Tom Jones. Three lookers.

Body snatchin' fungi

I learned on the BBC series Planet Earth last night that there are fungi in the rain forest that lodge themselves inside of insects, making them go crazy. Infected ants, for example, are exiled by their colony. Poor bastards.

Also, chimps are fucking scary.

Busy weekend

I got to San Jose on Friday and ended up meetng Kelsey at the gym at almost 1 in the morning. It was the first 24 Hour Fitness I've been to in San Jose and it smelled like one giant sock. Saturday was spent with Becky, Bella, and Sarah in Santa Cruz/Davenport/Pescadero. Lots of food was eaten; fun was had by all.

Today, Sunday, I spent driving around San Jose looking for handlebar tape and places to print digital photos. I don't ever miss the relatively slow pace of suburbia until I'm actually immersed in it. It's nice to drive around and then get to park right in front of where you want to be...without circling endlessly.



I didn't find any tape that I liked, but I did pick up a Topeak mini tool kit for my bike. It's possibly the coolest thing I've bought in a while (and I buy a lot of crap). The body of the tiny kit breaks into two halves, packed with 26 tools. In additional to standards like Allen and box wrenches, this badass comes with TWO tire levers (!!!!), a chain tool, spoke wrenches, AND a compartment for two chain pins. Topeak is definitely my favorite bike accessories brand. Their stuff is pricey, but well designed.

After driving around, I went for a long ride with my little cousin. We made a stop by my old junior high for kicks. The photo of the doors is the entrance to the band room, where I spent a great deal of my time in 7th and 8th grade.

My bike doesn't look good in nude

My little Peugeot was in desperate need of some new handlebar tape, so I went down to Freewheel Bike Shop and tried to buy some medium-dark brown tape (I want to replace my seat with a nice brown leather seat eventually). Apparently the color I want is really hard to come by, even though purple tape, pink tape, and purple tape with pink speckles were readily available. So I decided to go with a tan cork tape, figuring that it'll eventually get darker from wear. It took a while to put on the new tape, but I actually did a pretty decent job. However (and this is a huge however), my handlebars now look like they've been in an accident and are all bandaged up. It makes me a little sad to look at the bike. Sometime this week I'm going to have to go with another color, probably black, because I can't handle the tan.

Hindsight is 20/20

Creepy ad.
The company is still in business today.

Click for a larger version.

Bella is possibly THE cutest baby ever

Becky, Bella, Lark, and Sarah dropped by my place last night to pick me up to go to Matt's get together. I had them pose for some red wall photos while they were here. It's been a while since I've seen Bella—I think she's doubled in size. It was the most cheerful I've ever seen her (she was pretty much asleep all the other times). She makes the most awwww-inducing faces. Lark and I were completely mesmerized. She also has the most pinchable cheeks.

Mother Nature wants me to be fat

Ross and I had made plans to go bike riding and play tennis this Saturday, but the weather report calls for rain. What the hell? How am I supposed to stay active and fit?

Rain, Ross, and racquet below.

We got painted

Something like this doesn't happen everyday. Artist Christian Paine recreates our likeness from a photobooth picture of yesteryear. Neither of us have met him. Why did he decide to make my button a Smiths button?

I'm glad he got my bowl cut just right.