Blog Master G

“Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of State Rumsfeld…”

“I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied, either.”

– Bush news conference, April 13, 2004

Hannaford, Saratoga Springs, New York:

I obviously haven’t been writing here much lately. It’s not because I haven’t wanted to write. It’s quite the contrary, in fact: I have this burning urge inside me bugging me to write whenever I go too long without writing at least something here. Partly because writing is an outlet for me, partly because I don’t want too many days of my life to go by without remembering what was happening, and partly because I don’t want you, oh reader, to lose interest in my blog.

First, a PageRank update: I noticed this week that my Google PageRank jumped up a notch from where it was previously. It now looks to be about 6 out of 10, whereas before it was at 5 out of 10 for quite some time, as is Vassar Blogs.

Anyhoo, I haven’t written much lately because I’ve been so busy and so tired. My new job is keeping me super busy (a good thing), and outside work it feels like we’ve been on the go non-stop. Everything from visiting family to hanging out with friends to looking for a house to buy.

That, and I’m at the computer a lot more with my new job than with previous jobs, so my eyes have really been feeling the strain. So when I’m not working, I’m trying to rest my eyes from the computer screen. I’m clearly not doing that right now, but sometimes when I start writing I just enjoy it so much I have a hard time stopping.

Regardless, I’ve fallen behind on blogging and on responding to personal emails since I’m trying to give my eyes a break.

Now they shall break for the night.

I’ve had my MBNA credit card since 1998. I have a credit limit higher than I will ever need. I really like the MBNA Shopsafe tool, which allows me to generate a random, temporary credit card number with an expiration date and limit that I specify; this makes me feel good when making online purchases from sources with which I’m not familiar.

After a six-year mostly positive relationship, I may need to end it out of principle. I learned in an article in today’s New York Times that MBNA is the number two all-time contributor to Bush (after PricewaterhouseCoopers), ringing in at $606,291. It infuriates and sickens me to learn that my interest payments have apparently played a small part in funding the administration that is systematically wrecking this country, the enviornment, women’s rights, and more.

Yesterday was a long day. I went to Manhattan for work via train. I love the train. We looked at a house today. Monday we look at another that we drove past this morning. I have a good feeling about it.

I know it’s cheesy, but I love these dog lessons.

If a dog were the teacher you would learn stuff like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout…run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you’re not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

Leah Garchik in the SF Chronicle today: “Driving south toward the Bay Bridge on First Street on Monday afternoon, Peter A_nderson noticed major rubbernecking at a small black sports car apparently illegally parked beside an apartment house construction site. The car was ‘totally covered with wet, hot, stinking oil and grease,” said A_nderson, apparently as a lay expression of disapproval. Sometimes towing is an act of kindness.”

It’s cool that she used the tip from my dad, but she didn’t do the story justice. The way my dad conveyed this to me was much better and much funnier. Of course, a lifelong writer himself, my dad has the gift of storytelling and words that not everyone possesses.

Anyway, now it’s like father, like son. Back in 2002 when Jen, friends, and I bowled in a lane adjacent to Winona Ryder, Garchik wrote the following based on a tip from yours truly: “FINALLY: A TIC spy reports a sighting of someone who looked like Winona Ryder knocking down a couple of pins in the next lane at the Yerba Buena Bowling Center early Saturday night. A call to Ryder’s representative to confirm this wasn’t returned. If it wasn’t Winona, congratulations to someone else as pretty as she is; if it was you, Winona, keep your chin up, everybody bowls 55 at some time or other.”

For the record, it was Winona, not “someone who looked like Winona Ryder.”

My birthday party was Saturday night at the Parting Glass in Saratoga Springs. Friends came from far and near. It was a blast. Thanks to Jen for organizing such a great party. And thanks to everyone for being part of such a memorable birthday extravaganza.

View all photos on Ofoto

My brother rocks. He got me a Jackalope for my birthday.

Pete poses with Jesus and Jackalope:

You know you live in upstate New York when you have taxidermy on your mantle.

Husband now I am
The greatest gift I could have
What’s more? Friends and fam.

Loving people all
Around. The most important
Part of this short life.

In Northeast I dwell
Journeyed from birth land
Next phase has begun

New place is unique
Seasons, snow, scarves, and great fun
New friends, too, are here.

Time for work today
Lucky to have cool new job
Soon party begins.

[ Birthday Haikus 2003 ]

“A Google approach to email: Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want.”

I’d heard the rumors, and now it’s confirmed. Google is launching email. I love the concept: A free email account with an entire gigabye of storage without the need to delete or sort. This approach is very much in line with the way I handle my own email. I already archive everything on my Web server, with sent archives at my fingertips dating back to June 1999. Pine is my primary email application, and search is pretty powerful in it, but it’s far from the search behemoth that is Google.

We know Gmail will be fast. And the concept is great. All your emails — sent and received — at your fingertips. Spam won’t matter — sure they’ll have spam filtering — but who cares about deleting when you can find exactly what you want when you want it?

I’m an email fanatic, as most of us are, so this is one free email account that I am, without a doubt, going to add to my list.

Questions I have:

• Can Gmail be leveraged as an online file backup service? That is, I wonder if there will be a limit to the size of an attachment in an individual message.
• Will they eventually offer IMAP access to Gmail accounts? From question 6 in the FAQs, it sounds like they may.
• Are Yahoo and Hotmail scared? Their email services suck anyway.
• Why is the logo so lame?

Finally, whenever free email services come up, I can’t resist mentioning my favorite one of all: Fastmail.fm. It blows Yahoo and Hotmail out of the water. In fact, I’d say if you’re going to have any free email account, there’s no reason to have any but Fastmail.

So the real challenge for Gmail will be how it fares against Fastmail, the current king of the hill, as far as I’m concerned.