Blog Master G

I usually get some pretty cool or thought-provoking comments in my blog, but one I got this morning having nothing to do with the entry on which it was posted is just weird:

gabeanderson.com: life: I Love Solving Problems

This girl named Fatima has confessed her love for her cousin and has decided to use my blog as the forum for doing so.

I suppose stranger things have happened…

Yesterday Jen and I met up with Shannon at Civic Center plaza in front of City Hall for the latest protest against the war. Although we didn’t participate in the march as we did last time, it was still a great feeling to be out there doing something against the war effort. This one definitely felt bigger than the last one. We also ran into Tim and my former coworker Henry (from the Headlight days).

• City Hall from United Nations Plaza
• Jen & Gabe protest
• Shannon & Jen tell Bush who’s boss
• Gabe & Jen sit out front of City Hall
• The Emperor (Bush) is Mad
• Protesting on stilts
• Cops stand watch on balconies of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Gabe not enjoying the wait for the MUNI N train home

OK, so I’m finally getting around to uploading some photos of the new apartment after just more than two weeks of living here. But hey, it’s the first holiday since we’ve lived here and the DSL is now in full effect, so why the heck not? Most of these pictures are from the beginning of February:

• Gabe in doorway
• Living room
• Jen in kitchen
• Gabe in living room
• Living room: Dutch door
• Side room
• Yard 1
• Yard 2
• Yard 3
• Ooh, it’s Water ‘n Ice Service!
• Stella helps unpack
• Happy & Stella enjoy the new kitchen
• Stella & Happy cuddle in bed
• Gabe in living room
• Jen with unpacked kitchen
• Jen in hallway
• Jen unpacking her domain
• Jen with boxes in kitchen
• Bedroom filled with boxes
• Living room filled with boxes
• Jen worries that the fire will burn down the house
• Stella’s first encounter with fire
• Goodbye, Larkspur Shores

Yesterday was an exhausting day, as Jen, Jess, Ben, and I participated in the Chinese New Year’s SF Treasure Hunt, a 4.5-hour journey around San Francisco solving complex riddles — while attempting to navigate around the parade route. This was the first time that any of us had participated in the hunt. As an added bonus to the challenge, we were faced with a torrential downpour most of the night. As we walked around with flashlights, soggy maps, and wet feet, we still managed to have a good time. (Although I think Jen and Jess were a lot more into it than Ben and I were — being more into puzzles and trivia-type stuff in general … although Jen thinks I’m just a bigger baby than she is, since I didn’t like being out in the cold, wet rain climbing hills all night.)

Regardless, it was a really different way to spend a day while exploring new and remote nooks and crannies of the city you think you know so well.

The official scores have not yet been posted, but out of the 16 very tough riddles, I believe we got about 5 or 6 correct, finishing just before the 9pm deadline.

I think Jen had a little too much fun with Photoshop yesterday: She created a not-so-flattering version of one of one of the photos from our Baker Beach photo shoot (a year ago yesterday, coincidentally enough!):

• Original
• Uh oh
• Watercolor (this one is actually pretty cool)

Last Saturday Jen donated her 1994 Oldsmobile Achieva to the American Lung Association. It had more than 104,000 miles on it and the interior lights would not turn off.

Since driving the car across the country in 1999 when Jen left New York to move to California, we had only put several thousand miles on the car. It was always nice to have a backup car, but after moving to the city, it became apparent that it was time to kiss Old Faithful goodbye for lots of reasons: We will need the tax write-off next year when we’re married; we would have had to move the car on a weekly basis to avoid street-cleaning tickets; we would have been paying $65 per month insurance on a car that’s rarely driven (sure, we no longer get the multi-car discount, but we still end up saving $37.27 per month); we would have eventually had to pay lots more in repairs, which would soon have outweighed the value of the car.

One car is enough for the both of us, especially since my WRX is still almost brand new (just over 14,000 miles on it) and I pay an arm and a leg for the privilege of driving it: $465 per month loan payment, $150 per month insurance, $64+ per month in bridge tolls, nearly $2 per gallon for the super unleaded to fuel my turbo. But the value of driving it: Priceless.

Goodbye, Achieva, and thanks for the memories. It was in you, good vessel, that Jen and I began the journey of our life together in that drive across the country 4 years ago.

I received these hilarious photos in an email yesterday. They crack me the hell up. There was this long story about how the cat ended up this way, but I think that’s beside the point so I’m not going to post the story here. Just enjoy the photos in all their glory:

• Mad cat 1
• Mad cat 2

I just did my quick upgrade to MT 2.6, which was just released yesterday. This upgrade was as smooth as my last one back in December.

There are a handful of cool new features in this release, but the real fun will begin this summer when MT Pro is available.

Here’s Colin Powell’s indisputable proof about the very clear connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein:

Powell Offers Proof of Saddam-Osama Link

Now it makes perfect sense why the “War on Terror” has diverted to the hell-bent desire to attack Iraq.

Never mind the fact that the UN inspections are going well, Iraq is cooperating, and the inspectors have found nothing that should provoke the U.S. to attack. Of course, Bush and his cabinet are not rational and are just after control of the oil.

I’ve never really been one to get all gushy and romantic and celebrate the sorry excuse for making money between other holidays: Valentine’s Day. Luckily, my fiancee feels the same way.

Ergo, it is fitting that tonight we are going to see Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead, which is part of the SF Indiefest 2003. Yes, the same Peter Jackson who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Meet the Feebles, a disturbing little flick that involves puppet pornography.

After all, how could a movie like Brain Dead not be good when it includes scenes with “zombies loudly fucking in the basement and a nasty little Sumatran Rat-Monkey?”

As well as being side-splittingly funny, this is also the goriest film in the history of cinema. Brain Dead‘s incredibly visceral effects will never be topped — ever. The outrageous set-pieces are simultaneously breathtaking and jaw-dropping. Keep your eyes glued to the screen and try to keep up with the nonstop parade of visual gags as you struggle to stop laughing long enough to hear the next line of dialogue. Jackson’s film pretty much killed the splatter-comedy genre (films like Re-Animator, Evil Dead 2 and Riki-Oh), because Brain Dead can’t be topped.

Now that’s saying a lot. I’m psyched.