Blog Master G

WRX: One of the Eight Best Rides of the year, according to Sport Compact Car Magazine. Here’s an email I just posted to one of the WRX mailing lists to which I belong:

Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 16:02:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe
To: subaru_wrx@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [wrx] Just a ?

Ahh…..the sheer acceleration power of the WRX on the freeway! Isn’t it
nice?? I love that every day I get the opportunity to merge on the freeway
while in 3rd – and leave those also trying to merge in the dust.

Come to think of it, my whole commute (both ways) is a lot of fun –
getting on the freeway ramp when leaving work I get to take a 20mph
on-ramp at at least 40, which is a great way to put the handling capabilities
and MacPherson struts to a daily test. You know- I have to make sure they’re
still working properly on a daily basis. =)

A decision by Southwest to charge “larger passengers” for two seats is really fucked up. Of course, no one wants to be crowded on a plane, but this seems like a double standard (no pun intended) to me. Why should larger people have to pay double if they take up more room on a plane, but people who don’t have enough room on the plane not have to pay half? It also seems like faulty logic. How does this even work, logistically? If the flight is sold out and I’m paying for two seats, shouldn’t that imply that someone is bumped from the plane? If I’m paying for 2 seats, I’m certainly taking two seats. I believe it’s illegal to doubly sell the same thing. For example, if I’ve paid for a hotel room and don’t stay in it or inform the hotel that I’m not going to be there, the hotel cannot resell the same room for the same night to someone else.

I had a great time in ass-hot Tucson over the weekend with Pete. Met his roommates and friends, went hyper-bowling, ate at El Charro, saw the Commodores in concert, and just had a really chill time.

The last few days since returning have been really busy, which is nice.

Just read this article about whether/when Google will go public. Of course they will – in due time. And it will be big.

IBM has a cool new nanotechnology that allows tremendous amounts of data to be compressed on a disk the size of a sugar cube. It’s quite a few years out until it becomes a reality, but imagine having a cell-phone sized device that allows you to play MP3s, record videos, do all your personal computing, connect to the Internet, etc. Very cool stuff.

Today is the last day of this season’s Autodesk Bowling League. My teammate and I got second-to-last place (today’s game is just for fun, since we didn’t make the finals). My average after 8 weeks and 16 games is 133, with a handicap of 60. My high game on May 16, 2002 was 171. I think my all-time bowling high is about 176 or 177. I’ve yet to break the 180 mark or even get a turkey. I’ve come close many-a-times, though, with two strikes followed by 9 pins.

After work I’ll be heading to a gym ball class at the on-site Club One. Woohoo! Then later on, it’s off to see Undercover Brother with Jen, Enoch, and crew.

Last night Jen and I watched David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, the erotic thriller that’s more twisted than Bay Area traffic on a holiday weekend. I absolutely love movies like that. I had a good feeling about this one as soon as the movie started. I hadn’t seen a movie that actually makes you think like that since Memento. There’s so much going on, so many characters, and so many intertwined plot lines, trippy imagery, and intense scenes, that it’s nearly impossible to make sense out of the movie. So much so, in fact, that Jen and I had to go right to the Web after the movie for an explanation. We found a really good analysis of the film on Salon.com. Not until page 3 of the analysis do the writers really start analyzing. And their transition into making sense of it all best sums up the flick: “What the fuck is going on in this movie?”

Now that’s my kind of movie. And one that I will be adding to my collection soon — especially since we saw the blatantly edited Blockbuster version that blurred out some important details of the hot lesbian sex scene.

A Web site I just came across aims to archive the digital age by capturing “Web snapshots.” This is similar to what we were discussing Saturday night at Gordon’s. An important glimpse into the recent past shows what CNN’s Web site looked like on September 11. That’s something none of us will soon forget.

Last week a Beijing newspaper picked up a story from The Onion and ran it as news. Wow, some people…

Friday night Jen and I got together with Katie and Jeanine in Golden Gate Park – in lucky area 13 – for a little picnic. I drove my Scooby across the pedestrian path and onto the lawn. It was easier than hiking with an ice chest full of Corona. Besides, other people were doing it. But the rangers who came upon us — and at whom Stella barked and jumped — were not so hot on the idea. When asked how I got my car there, I said, “I drove it.” I happily complied with their request to move. They mumbled profanity about my wolf-like dog, hackles flaring, growling at them, but they were clearly more upset by the presence of my car on the lawn.

On Saturday Jen and I went to baby Maya’s first birthday party at Glenn and Amy’s Lucas Valley abode. It was a lot of fun for a little person’s party. After that, we hit the Italian Street Painting Festival in downtown San Rafael. It’s incredible what these street artists can do with a little bit of chalk and a whole lot of asphalt.

Saturday night it was off to dinner at Gordon’s House of Fine Eats with Ben and Jess, Ben’s little brother Jake, and Jess’ friend Scott from Stanford. After a yummy seafood supper, we hit the Brava Theater Center for Kate’s Chink-O-Rama, a song-and-dance comedy show that attempted to shoot down Asian stereotypes. Although it was a really funny and entertaining show, it seemed like it was more about an excuse to say the word “chink” over and over again, without much substantiation of why racial stereotyping is bad. In her opening remarks, Kate did say that we need to “deconstruct” the word chink because it lumps Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people all together without an understanding of their history, culture, etc. But that was all she really said. The rest of the show was just about Asian stereotypes and everyone singing the word chink. Here’s a review on the show from The Chronicle. And another.

I saw a TV commercial last night that absolutely disgusted me. As I watched computerized soldiers re-enact the D-Day attack at Normandy, my jaw dropped as the Sony PlayStation 2 logo appeared at the end of the TV spot. I can’t remember what the game is called, but are some things not sacred? Sixty years from now will there be a 9/11/01 video game where young gamers pretend to be terrorists who crash planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon?

The big news of today is the announcement of the Bush Administration’s new proposal to create a cabinet office for Homeland Security, at a cost of a mere $37 billion. It’s always beyond me how much everything costs – even what seems to be a simple government reorganization. Changes include moving the Coast Guard from under the Department of Transportation (how much sense did that ever make in the first place?) to under Homeland Security

My horoscope for today claims that I’ll be “walking around in a daze.” Perhaps that’s because I’ll be a pint short of blood come 9:45 this morning.

Aries
Horoscope (by astrocenter.com)
Today, dear Aries, you might find yourself walking around in a daze. Your thoughts might be on romance, or on creative projects, or dreams, visions and spiritual matters. You’re likely to be especially intuitive right now, and more sensitive than usual to the pain of others. This is not a good day to visit a hospital! It is, however, a good day for meditation, study of metaphysical matters, or starting or completing artistic projects. Take advantage of these energies.

I finally saw Cast Away on HBO last night. What a disappointment. Two-and-a-half hours of watching a half-naked Tom Hanks talk to a volleyball, and the only satisfaction you get is a shaved version of him standing at a crossroads with a stupid grin on his face. Sure, he appreciates the simple life much more after four years of running around by himself on a deserted island and is disgusted by how much humans waste and how easy it is for us to make fire in the modern world (recall the end of the party that is thrown upon his return), but come on. Where’s the surprise ending? Where’s the twist? Where’s that feeling of satisfaction? Albeit, the movie was incredibly sad and leaves us questioning the excess of daily life in America, but Tom Hanks at a dusty crossroads? That’s it?

This story from a recent Sunday Chronicle makes the island sound like such a paradise. Too bad there’s zero mention of the mold problem, which has been causing me breathing problems for nearly a year. Below is an email I sent to some of the Bay Area’s media, who didn’t really take an interest in the story (except for one conversation I had with a reporter from KRON.

———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 19:31:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe
To: ppodger@sfchronicle.com
Cc: vk@sfgate.com, 7oys@kgo-tv.com, 4listens@kron.com, gay@kron.com,
alerts@sfbg.com, john.mecklin@sfweekly.com, jmontes@sfexaminer.com,
ahampton@sfexaminer.com
Subject: mold problem on Treasure Island – health risks to residents

Dear Ms. Podger,

I left a voicemail for you this afternoon and thought I’d follow up with an email.

As a potentially related story to the one you wrote May 3 (“Evictions may be tied to mold woes”) – I received today from The Villages at Treasure Island (under management of John Stewart Leasing Co.) a letter and lease addendum regarding the mold problem here on the island. The addendum essentially transfers responsibility to residents and asks me to give up my rights by acknowledging the mold problem.

I have lived on Treasure Island for nearly 3 years and have developed asthma and an incessant cough since living here. I’ve known about the mold problem for quite some time (you can see it everywhere) and am angered that every time I’ve reported it, the leasing company hasn’t bothered to take it seriously. And now this.

I believe that others here on the island may have reported similar complaints and the John Stewart Co. would rather relieve us of our rights than do something to correct the problem.

I contacted the administrator of the leasing company here on the island today and asked what would happen if I refused to sign the addendum; he said he would have to check with legal department and get back to me. I’m certain that if I refuse to sign, I will be forced out of my lease. And I’m not willing to give up my rights.

Sincerely,

Gabe

What the crap?? I have no idea what to say about this. You’ll see what I mean. It’s hilarious, though, whatever it is.