Blog Master G

While browsing through the recent referrals area of my blog’s site meter, I stumbled across a site called Popdex, which tracks historical references to blogs. It’s good stuff. Here’s the measure of my blog’s popularity, so to speak:

life | Popdex Citations

Get it? Popdex = “popularity index.” Clever.

At long last, my Earthlink DSL equipment has arrived at work. My craving for high-speed Internet access at home can finally be sated once again this evening when I get it all hooked up. I can also start uploading photos of the new apartment, of trivia last night (I am gradually coming down from my hangover this morning), and more.

As much as I’m enjoying mine and Jen’s new apartment in the city, dealing with a private landlord (or property manager in our case) is a pain in the ass. Our place has all kinds of problems and we’re relying on one guy to fix them. The whole reason I brought Stella to work with me today and have made her hang out in the car all day (aside from frequent walks and a long walk at lunch) was because Al was supposed to come fix the heater.

I’ve been trying to reach him all day and finally got a hold of him. He never came. Why? He had his wisdom teeth removed today. Unless it was a sudden impacting incident over the weekend, wisdom tooth removal is a scheduled operation. I know because I’ve been through it. He apologized for not calling me sooner, but wait: He didn’t call me at all. I had to call him. Not only that, but he thinks my name is Dave — no matter how many times I said Gabe. I’ve had that problem my whole life (people thinking I say “Dave” instead of “Gabe”), but give me a break. I signed a lease with this guy! The least he can do is get my name right.

So then Al starts going on about how he’ll “try” to come tomorrow if he can. He just doesn’t get it: With dogs — including a big one who fiercely guards her house — people can’t just come on over and let themselves in. I have to know ahead of time; I have to plan. So I told him to come Wednesday when I’ll be working from home. Of course, I also know that it takes more than a couple days to recover from having wisdom teeth removed, so we’ll see if he actually shows up.

Grrr…another trade-off of living in the city.

Due to the fact that our heater still doesn’t work, our gas oven produced a lot of smoke when we tried to use it for the first time last night and it set off the smoke detector, which wouldn’t turn off, so I had to pull it off the wall and it shocked me, I had to bring both dogs to work today. (That was an incredibly awkward and poorly structured sentence, but hey, it gets the point across.) Of course, due to Stella’s difficult personality, only Happy is in my office with me. Stella is hanging out in the car, which is parked in a nice and shady spot for her. I’m tending to her often.

I’d love to bring her into my office, but she can be pretty aggressive with other dogs and likes to bark at people, so it’s best she stays in the car. It’s good to have her (sort of) here, though.

Let’s hope our property manager Al is able to fix everything at home today.

Today I compiled and launched the latest section of my site:

gabeanderson.com: archives

Check it out! It’s a fun trip down memory lane (at least for me). There’s a whole lot of content there.

The blog life officially began in May 2002 with this post. Today, however, I decided to import a number of posts from my private blog Think, to which I’ve occasionally posted since October 2000. (Don’t worry: I’ve left out all the really dirty stuff.)

In support of this effort, I’ve created a new category, think, where you’ll find all these posts (10.31.2001 through 05.13.2002, the day before the first official post to my public blog on 05.14.2002).

Enjoy this latest trip down memory lane in my ongoing effort to create a complete digital archive of my life! Some highlights:

• 03.06.2002: Yin & Yang
• 05.24.2001: New Job at Financial Finesse
• 03.15.2001: Headlight is No More

Last night Jen and I watched with disgust, sadness, and laughter as British journalist Martin Bashir (he rocks) journeyed for 8 months with the has-been King of Pop Michael Jackson in ABC’s documentary Living with Michael Jackson.

It’s insane how ridiculously loved he is the world over. People screamed and cried and hugged him. It’s also depressing and strange to see this rare glimpse at his private life: Mannequins of old white people transported to 7 different suites in Vegas where he rides an old-person cart up and down the hallways by himself at night; the fact that he believes he is Peter Pan (Bashir: “But you’re Michael Jackson.” Jackson: “No, I’m Peter Pan.”); his strange belief that God and not whatever chemicals and drugs he’s used has transformed him from a black boy into a white man; his lying about having had only 2 nose jobs and no other plastic surgery (yeah, right, Mike); and, most controversial and disturbing of all, his open admission that young boys sleep in his bed and that he sees no problem with this and that those of us who do are “ignorant.” Hmm, come again, Mike? I may be alone on this one, but you seem to be the ignorant one living in your own twisted reality. Good luck dealing with your next lawsuit about how you interact with children.

Despite all this, it was certainly an entertaining glimpse at the secret life of the international man of mystery (not to be confused with Pimp Daddy Austin Powers, of course).

Brrr…my hands are so cold I can barely type. I’m working from home again today (second day this week) so that my property manager Al and his pal Bud can fix our heater, which hasn’t worked since Jen and I moved into the new pad.

Everything else is really great about this place (location, yard, etc.), but damn is it cold in here! Note to self: When buying a house, southern exposure is a must. Currently, our yard and all our windows face north and the sun is mostly blocked by the neighboring buildings.

I love the irony of this neighborhood: Inner Sunset, one of the coldest and foggiest in all of San Francisco.

As the world knows all too well by now, Saturday morning brought a great tragedy: The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. After my initial sorrow and compassion for the families left behind by the astronauts, my first reaction was along the lines of: Isn’t it about time we learned our lesson that humans aren’t meant to travel in space? Isn’t it time we redirect some of our tax dollars to problems here on Earth?

After much reflecting and reading this week about the tragedy, though, I now feel that space travel, exploration, and research should continue.

Why? Aside from the research that does benefit life on Earth, primarily because space travel is a dream shared by people around the world that inspires the imagination of the child. Growing up, I recall my obsession with space — constantly flipping through my favorite books on the solar system and keeping the space pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica dutifully bookmarked for easy access. I remember lying on the floor staring at those pictures and daydreaming about what it would be like to be in space, to walk on the moon. To this day, I still find it incredible that humankind has discovered how to achieve space flight.

It also occurred to me this week that the track record of the Space Shuttle program is impressive. Considering the danger of space travel and the sophisticated technology required, it’s amazing that of the 113 shuttle missions to date, this is only the 2nd shuttle to have been lost during flight (of course, the Challenger in 1986 being the last). I seem to recall having read this week about a 3rd U.S. incident that involved fatalities, but I believe that happened on the launch pad. There were only 2 other accidents involving at least one fatality (both former Soviet Union accidents in 1967 and 1971). Now that’s a track record. So of course it’s going to be a big deal when something goes wrong.

How many people die in car accidents every day? Quite a bit more than the handful of lives that have been lost in the name of science and discovery, that’s for sure.

Another interesting twist this week that brought it all closer to home was my realization that I’m only about 3 degrees removed from all of the astronauts who died with Columbia. You see, I know a fellow Vassar alum who works for NASA (Ames Research Center). Separately, while trying to sell my Spikes-Spiders, I began corresponding with an interested party who also works for NASA Ames. We’ve corresponded via email and have also talked at length on the phone. He knew 2 of the 7 astronauts aboard Columbia. He also knows my fellow alum. It’s a very small world.

My friend Dan links to a number of good articles on the topic, including this 1980 prophetic criticism of space travel.

Questions remain and the future of the Space Suttle program is up in the air, but the awe of space travel will always be an exciting dream for past and future generations.

I’m intrigued by what the mysterious purple bolts might be. And I’m inspired by essays like this one, which quotes Carl Sagan’s take on space following the Apollo’s mission to the moon and the resulting photographs:

For the first time, the inhabitants of Earth could see their world from above — the whole Earth, the Earth in color, the Earth as an exquisite spinning white and blue ball set against the vast darkness of space. Those images helped awaken our slumbering planetary consciousness. They provide incontestable evidence that we all share the same vulnerable planet.

It’s important for us to remember that in the bigger picture of the galaxy and our universe, we are but one small planet. And space travel helps us not forget the context of our existence.

This is a pretty cool concept: Achiving every aspect of your life electronically. My blog is certainly a step in that direction, but Microsoft research teams are working on taking it even further through something called MyLifeBits, which aims to archive everything from email to photos to phone calls:

ABCNEWS.com : This Is Your Brain on Digits

I’m all for historical preservation, but would also draw the line at privacy. There are certain things I would not want to archive electronically, and I would certainly never throw away original paperwork or photos.

Cool concept nonetheless.