Blog Master G

happy sure is fast
doing zoomies in the yard
watch out for the fence!

my border collie
he’s so fast and yet so slow.
porn is his calling

Yes, I went to Vassar. No, I can’t admit to having engaged in any pornographic filming or ventures while a student there (although the opportunity was surely present). While reviewing some of the referrers to my site yesterday, I came across a Google search that suggests otherwise: vassar porn.

Vassar was a wild place and I have fond memories of my experience there. We had Founder’s Day, parties in the woods, Serenading, the Draft Shaft (my yearbook photo, incidentally), Busch, more Busch, and even a neon sign, which I just gave away last weekend. The one campus event (now banned since the year after I left Vassar, 2000, things got way too out of hand) that probably came closest to epitomizing the phrase “Vassar porn” was the Homo-Hop, the biggest event of the year (along with Founder’s Day). Jess Baron sums it up best in her 1994 piece from The Miscellany News:

“Techno music pounded in the Villard Room where dominatrices and elegant drag queens gyrated in the smoky light. Several New York City runway dancers strutted their stuff and played with large leather bullwhips on risers around the room. Scenes from music videos and ’70s movies flashed on the ceiling. The dance floor became a sea of interconnected body parts. Genders and sexual orientations were virtually indistinguishable among the sweaty pulsating masses. Arousal was in the air — whether stimulated by the multitude of liberated libidos or chemically induced with doses of ecstasy. It was no secret that many of Vassar’s pleasure seekers had turned to artificial joy of any sort they could get their hands on from alcohol to hallucinogens.”

Ahh, the memories. I only wish that at the time, I had been as obsessed with taking photos and writing in a journal as I am now.

Other Vassar alums or current students: If you have photos from any of the events I’ve mentioned here (or others) that you’d be willing to share, please let me know.

Jen and I are relocating to the East Coast. This is something we had been talking about doing prior to my being laid off. After learning on October 1 that I was losing my job, we began to seriously consider the idea. The decision was not easy. We love San Francisco. Leaving this city will be very hard. But we believe that it is the right thing to do at this point in our lives.

Last Sunday (October 12) we admitted to ourselves that we had made the decision to leave, but just hadn’t come to grips with it yet. After we came to that realization, it felt better. At that point, we were deciding between Burlington, VT and Saratoga Springs, NY as potential destinations. Just this past Saturday we made the decision to move to Saratoga Springs. The job market is much better there and it is closer to friends and family, so we’ll have a stronger support network that will help with the big transition.

We spent most of Saturday discussing details of the move and how to make it happen. The major elements are finding someone to take over our lease here, a new apartment in Saratoga, and, of course, jobs. Jen, demonstrating her impressive planning skills, has already worked out the route we’ll take (dog-friendly hotels and all), how long it will take us, and how much the trip will cost.

We’re very excited about the move, but leaving this magical city and all our friends will be anything but easy.

Before yesterday I had never really appreciated the minty glory that is the mojito. Jen and I have been to at least one party with a mojito theme, but I drank something else that night for some reason…not sure why I didn’t go for the mojito then.

Yesterday Glenn and Amy had us over to their place for some delicious grilled veggies and mojitos aplenty. And damn were they good. They also presented us with a generous wedding gift basket with all the necessary mojito supplies — Grey Goose vodka, triple sec, premade mint syrup, and more. I had also never experienced the smoothness of Grey Goose, so that was a special treat, too.

So much a special treat, in fact, that Jen and I decided to continue with our own mojito party after arriving home last night. We busted into the Grey Goose and partied Sunday night away. Not that I’m currently having to worry about going to work on Mondays, but Jen still is, so it’s always refreshing to do something else on a Sunday night besides sit around worrying about going back to work on Monday. We had a close-to-midnight snack of Pasquale’s eggplant sandwich, followed by some treats from Tart to Tart.

On Thursday last week I was in Sacramento, kickin’ it with James, who’s been housebound experiencing some pretty intense back problems. “As long as your drinking arm works,” I told him, “you have nothing to worry about.” I stayed until Friday morning, then drove to San Rafael to sign my final paperwork and attend my going-away lunch with my now-former coworkers.

Friday night my oldest friend Jevaun, whom I’ve known since kindergarten in Sacramento, came to town. It was the first we’d seen each other in nearly 3 years, which I found hard to believe, and we had a great time, reminiscing about the wild times we used to have with the old crew. We first hit Yancy’s, then hung out at our pad the rest of the night. It was great fun and I’m glad we’re in touch again. It was so cool watching some video of his adorable 3-year-old daughter. We also had some good laughs watching an old video I dug up of us at Sutter’s Fort “Living History Day” on November 11, 1989. We called my bro in Tucson to tell him how awesome it was that in the video he was wearing spandex shorts and had a mullet. Gotta love the ’80s.

I spent part of the weekend stressing not so much about finding a new job or relocating, but about all the other stuff that I need to work on: 100 Faces Web site production (nearly done), online traffic school (before December), Vassar DC site production, etc.

Ben describes very well what I also believe about the world and the interconnectedness of us all. It is a belief not about God or some higher power that controls or has influence over what happens in this world; it is a belief about the inner power — the energy — that bonds us all and unites every living thing in the world.

I was raised and am baptized Episcopalian and went to Jesuit High School — about as Catholic as it gets. Like Ben, I grew up going to church and to Sunday School. And at certain points in my life, I have believed in the traditional God — He (or a version of the deity) to whom so many pray in some way. I even catch myself doing this in my head when I fly on an airplane — perhaps caused by some residual fear instilled in me by September 11. Maybe we’re all a bit more aware or at least feel a bit less safe following that horrible day.

But I digress.

I believe that what connects every person is energy. As Ben has written, the most powerful energy is love. When people pray, I believe it’s their way of focusing on that energy and maybe even having some kind of physical effect on some other person in the universe. There are always stories of people healed through prayer. My own family has experienced this more than once.

Yesterday I went to Sacramento to hang out with James. I crashed at his house and drove back to the Bay this morning. Before leaving Sacramento, I had been hoping to visit the cemetery where Nana and Alan’s ashes are interred. I ended up not having the time, but I was very much thinking about Nana. And then I had an experience that, I believe, is proof of this universal energy.

I believe that when someone dies, their energy lives on. Some people call this a soul or maybe even an afterlife or a ghost. I think this is energy. When a loved one dies, the energy of that person remains in the universe and in all the people that person knew and loved. Nana’s energy is very much alive in this world. I carry much of her influence with me. We all rub off a bit of energy on one another.

Nana dedicated her life to helping other people. She was very interested in and involved in politics. She even founded a publishing company 30 years ago dedicated to helping spread knowledge about politics; the company was founded and exists to connect people with elected officials. Nana believed in empowering people to effect change.

While thinking about Nana, my cell phone rang and displayed a number that I did not recognize. I used to have my cell phone number on my Web site, but I took it down because I would get lots of calls from people I don’t know. Only yesterday I put my cell phone number back online since I’m trying to find a new job. I figured it was someone who had seen my number online. It was.

The call was from a man in San Rafael who had done a search for legislative district information and had come across the Cougar Books Web site. And, I assume, Capitol Enquiry’s Web site. From there, he found me and thought I was Capitol Enquiry, which does have legislative district information.

The caller and I spoke for at least 20 minutes while I was driving west. He told me about the fact that Bush is already making plans to steal the next election in 2004 with the aid of touch-screen ballot machines that do not print a voter record and are susceptible to hacking. The companies that make these machines will not let election officials examine or audit the machines. Why? The people who make and sell the machines are among the largest contributors to Bush. Additionally, there are already plans for the next presidential election to remove the names (from eligible voter rosters) of anyone in the country who might share a name with a convicted felon. This happened in Florida in 2000 and it may happen again unless we stop it.

HR 2239 would require a paper audit of all electronic votes. It needs to pass. This is a hugely important issue, but it’s getting no coverage in the media. It should be on the front page of every newspaper. Google News turns up a mere 3 results on HR 2239 as of this writing.

So I learned all this while driving and while thinking about Nana. During most of her lifetime, sadly, I wasn’t that interested in politics or government. Since she’s been gone, I’ve been much more aware and interested in what’s going on in the world around me. I believe that her energy remains and somehow contributed to this unusual phone call that brought my attention to this issue.

I wish your grandmother the best, Ben, and will send some healing energy her way.

I’m writing this from my Mac. I have absolutely loved having a Mac again this past month or so. And iTunes is such an awesome application. The more I use it, the more it amazes me.

Apple is currently announcing iTunes for Windows. From the MacRumors.com site, Steve Jobs just said this, “Do something, I’ve never done before… give a demo on a PC.” Gotta love it.

Reading through the unfolding Apple music event is really making me want to buy an iPod. Perhaps that will be the next big purchase. We’ll see. Given that I currently don’t have a job, it’s probably not the best time to be spending money.

Regardless, it’s going to be really cool to use iTunes on Windows. Perhaps Windows users will now see the light of Macintosh, if they haven’t yet.

Among my other site maintenance projects today, I also installed the much-needed MT-Blacklist, which, if it works according to plan, should kick ass. Apparently comment spamming has become so prevalent that some kind soul has finally created an excellent tool to stop it. MT-Blacklist comes with a database of 400 blacklisted spammers and is designed to leverage the power of the Web through a blacklist.txt file that should reside in the top level of bloggers’ sites. Every new comment notification email I receive now includes a link to “De-spam using MT-Blacklist,” if I so choose. During my installation, I also opted to be notified of attempts to leave comment spam.

Awesome tool.

Rock on, Jay Allen, and mad props to you.

[ via Six Apart ]

Drastic life changes call for drastic site measures. If you’re reading this today or soon hereafter, either you have the full and direct URL to my blog bookmarked (gabeanderson.com/life/index.php), you’ve stumbled across my home page after finding one of my archives through a Google search, or you’ve contacted me to request site access.

I spent most of today “securing” my site (see new Greetings page) to make it a bit harder to track me down — not that it’s hard by any means. But as I embark on big life changes and the search for a new job, I’d rather make learning everything about me a little less easy for potential employers. I’ve been feeling rather naked lately. (Ironic, given my yearlong quest to climb the Google rankings.)

Sorry.

This is certainly not an effort to discourage you from reading my blog or to turn anyone away. It just makes me feel a bit better knowing I won’t be quite so exposed.

So how did I accomplish this little trick, you ask? Here are the major highlights of how I did this:

1. Using a different Movable Type blog installed on the top level of my site, I created a new individual archive template to get the look, feel, and functionality I wanted.
2. The email form is leveraging the MT comment template, but I tweaked it around (the comment field “text” is actually the “email address” field in my application) to get the behavior I wanted. I also modified the comment error template.
3. “Comments” do not appear anywhere; I simply receive an email when someone requests site access.
4. I created a new MT entry whose individual archive is stored like this: <$MTEntryTitle dirify=”1″$>/index.php. This created the /greetings directory containing only the index.php file.
5. I changed the .htaccess file in the top level of my site to point to /greetings.
6. Ditto for the .htaccess file in /life. There, I also switched precedence from index.php to index.html.
7. I ensured that all /life references throughout my site navigation now point to the full blog URL: gabeanderson.com/life/index.php.
8. I changed the .htaccess file in /home to point to the full blog URL (same as above).

In other words, the key here is the .htaccess switch to make my Web server look first at index.html (causing the /life redirect to /greetings), while leaving intact the index.php file that my blog has always used — and requiring that anyone viewing this page enter the full URL, inclusive of index.php.

And there you have it. Meet my blog with semi-restricted access.

Anyone who knows me or has been reading my blog for a while knows where I stand politically. With that in mind, here’s the ultimate irony: I just got a call from the staffer of Rebublican Congressman Tom Delay (from Texas, at that!) inviting me to become a “California Chairman of the Business Advisory Council.” Holding back my laughter, I thought I’d humor this poor staffer and hear him out. So I listened to a recorded message from Delay urging small business owners to join his council and help advocate the Bush tax cut, blah blah blah.

I know how they got my name: I have a sole proprietorship (Gabe Consulting), so I’m on lots of small business mailing lists.

But I digress. After hearing this ridiculous message, the staffer came back on the line and asked me if I’d consider joining the council. I confirmed that Delay supported the Bush tax cut, then I asked him why that’s a good idea and how it benefits me. He rattled off something about enabling employers to be able to pay for employee beneifts. Then I told him that I thought the tax cuts benefit only the rich and why should people who aren’t rich pay more in taxes. There was silence, then he referred me to the business advisory council Web site.

Update 1.20.2005: Suicide Documentary

New Yorker: “Studies reveal ‘a commonly held attitude that romanticizes suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge in such terms as aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, while regarding a Bay Bridge suicide as tacky.'”

I read the (print version of) this fascinating New Yorker article tonight about the most popular and effective place to commit suicide in America: The Golden Gate Bridge. An average of one person every two weeks commits suicide using the national landmark as a stepping stone. That’s more than 1,200 (recorded) suicides since the bridge opened in 1937. Only twenty-six people known to have attempted suicide from the bridge have survived.

One of the only things I will actually miss about my San Francisco-San Rafael commute is the opportunity to drive across the breathtaking Gate twice per day. As Tad Friend eloquently puts it in this New Yorker piece: “Matchless in its Art Deco splendor, the Golden Gate is also unrivalled as a symbol: it is a threshold that presides over the end of the continent and a gangway to the void beyond.”