Blog Master G

This is fantastic: The latest approach to fighting spam seems to be to engage the spammers in ongoing dialog. The producer of spam letters does this on a regular basis. It’s hilarious.

I came across an online posting today from one of my English classes at Vassar. I’m still not sure what I was talking about or what kind of crack I was smoking…but I’m sure I was going on not very much sleep…or smoking the crack of Blake.

Here’s another funny blurb I wrote back in 1997.

Sometimes Blogger pisses me off to no end. I had just written several paragraphs a moment ago when the page decided to suddenly reload on its own. And whoosh! There went everything I just wrote. Grrr…

Here’s the main thing I wanted to capture right now:

“The world needs the determination and idealism of Vassar graduates.”
– Vassar President Frances D. Fergusson during VC’s 2002 commencement ceremonies

I can redo the weekend update later…

Home from a great rehearsal dinner in Berkeley before Matt & Troye’s wedding tomorrow, Jen and I are hanging out with James, who’s arrived from Sacramento, Shannon, and Bobby…tomorrow’s the big day when Tracy arrives in town! Woohoo!

The big news today is that Jen and I are getting married. That in itself is news that’s nearly a month old, but we are beginning to get more serious about planning the wedding. More specifically, Jen spoke with her mom tonight, and it looks like her mom is going to be the wedding planner. She is apparently very into the planning and already has a lot of ideas. What may be the most appealing suggestion is a place in the Catskill Mountains of New York called Sunny Hill Resort. The great thing about this news is that Jen and I need not worry about planning our own wedding. After all, planning a dinner party at our home is hard enough work. (The one in the link was on 11/10/01.)

It’s been a long day. It was up at 630 and out the door by 730 to take Jen’s car to Mark Morris Tire for an oil change and check-up. It needed signal and brake work. Then it was off to recover what I could of the Spikes Spider wheel mount from the SF Auto Auction, which now has the Saturn. I only got the metal mounting bracket, and not the special lugnuts. Oh well…gotta cut my losses.

Here’s a depressing look at the future of our country and our economy..preparing for the 100-year bear market.

And now, with less than an hour until midnight, I will try to watch what I can of Vanilla Sky before heading to bed and having to return it tomorrow.

People who are mourning are said to shed tears at seemingly strange times. This morning at 6:15 I found myself standing in my living room, shedding tears as I watched footage from Nana’s memorial service on March 16, 2002. Re-living that day, and the part of the ceremony where we passed pink roses around to the tune of Louie Armstrong‘s “What a Wonderful World,” was all it took to make me really, really miss Nana.

Yesterday on our way to Stonestown Galleria, Jen and I stopped in the Mission, planning to grab a burrito at a tacqueria I had been once before. We found a pretty decent spot and started to walk the several blocks to the food. About halfway there, we saw a crowd of nervous-looking people staring into a side street. Then we saw a bald man, fresh blood pouring from his head, wildly waving a squeegee in the air as he hopelessly pounded it against his attacker. I could not tell what the other man in the squabble used to bloody the bald man, but there was a third man with a hook for one hand hovering around the vicinity. The strange and stressful scene broke apart soon thereafter. Gotta love city life… We reached the burrito joint several minutes later. It was not the one I had been thinking of. There were several flies hanging out. So we did not.

This afternoon I stopped at Costco in Point Richmond on my way home from work. As I carried a double-case of Corona from the beer section back to my shopping cart, I stared up at the tremendous volume of goods stacked high above my head, clear to the ceiling of the huge warehouse. I honed in on the super mega-packs of Diet Pepsi and over-sized bags of Kingsford Charcoal and thought, “Wow. If there were a bad earthquake right now, I could be crushed by cans of sugar water and small black firestarters.”

The remains of Chandra Levy, Gary Condit’s Congressional intern who disappeared before September 11 but who became old news that fateful Tuesday morning, were found today in Washington Park. This is quite sad. I am sure, though, that the family is relieved, as they can finally begin to mourn.

This morning was an early one. I awoke bright ‘n early at 6am to arrive at work before an 8am divisional all-hands meeting. It was one of those soothing, quiet mornings that follow a day of hard rain. The ground was still moist and there was a crispness in the air; it was not cold, but there was a brisk spring chill. Stella romped with me out to the parking lot and hopped in the back of the WRX. We cruised off to the TI tennis courts for some early-morning dog fun.

Scientists in northern England discovered the skeleton of an ancient Roman transvestite in 1981. Not until today, however, did they announce their conclusion regarding the young priest’s castrated state. Apparently it took great scientific minds 21 years to figure out that man’s desire to be feminine and wear women’s clothing is not just a modern phenomenon. Had they spent more time at AsiaSF, they would have quickly observed how natural some men look as women — clearly a development that began thousands of years ago, not just in recent history.

My hometown Sacramento Kings tied the NBA Western Conference Championship against the LA Lakers last night at 1-1. Go Kings! Put Sacramento on the map.

Over the weekend, following new threats of terror against the United States, our government engaged in “intelligence fusion efforts between the FBI and the CIA,” according to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Roughly translated, that means for the first time ever, the FBI and the CIA shared information. What?? Sometimes I feel a great sense of pride in this country. Others, I am simply befuddled by the ridiculous level of bureaucracy that clearly exists at every level of government. Two intelligence agencies — supposedly under the same higher-level leadership — have never collaborated in efforts to learn about terrorism and potential threats? Who knows what else they’ve never compared notes about? Probably lots.

Still, the warnings this time are both more specific and more vague. Warning notices are being posted at apartment complexes around the country, including here in the Bay Area. Yet the government supposedly does not know when the next act of terror may strike. It “could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, it could happen next year,” said Vice President Dick Cheney. Gee, thanks. I could’ve told you that. Even if the government does has specifics, is it really in anyone’s best interest to detail exactly what, when, and where the next act will occur? Would it really do anything but create mass hysteria similar to that we’ve witnessed in movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact? Probably not. It may be in everyone’s best interest not to know. Whether it’s to occur by terrorism or not, I certainly don’t want to know when I’m going to die. I enjoy the mystery. I enjoy living life without looking to a dark fate.

Last night was the series finale of The X-Files. Following its 9-year run on FOX, it’s hard to believe the show is finally no more. I’ll miss that Sunday-night ritual. At least there are always re-runs.

Yesterday I spoke with my sales guy, Andrew, at Bianco Subaru in Corte Madera. He actually had the audacity to insinuate that it was my fault that my titanium shift knob has come loose in my car for the second time — that maybe it was the way I drive. Alas, what more should one expect from a kid salesman whose daddy owns the place? I later called him back to inform him that that was a very unprofessional thing to say and that it demonstrated incredibly poor customer service. He apologized, which was what I was after.

This morning I woke with a jolt just before 8am in preparation for today’s Bay to Breakers race, the longest and oldest footrace in America. Jen and I had plans to go with some friends, as we have the last two years, but it turns out that no one was really feeling up to it. Good thing, too, as it began to pour pretty hard just before 9am this morning. The rain was the perfect excuse all of us had been looking for. So it’s a rainy day at home on TI…I may go bowling with my Dad this afternoon. The one year that we planned well for Bay to Breakers — by driving Jen’s car out to Ocean Beach last night (where the race ends) — is the one year we end up not going! (It’s always a pain in the ass to get all the way home from the ocean…the other 60,000 people are always in the same boat, too.)

This metal shift lever may solve the annoying problem I’ve been having with my titanium shift knob continuously coming loose as I shift, despite already having been replaced once by the dealer, two days after I drove my car off the lot.

According to today’s Sunday Chronicle, San Francisco is “dead last” on a list of 20 major cities around the country in terms of solving violent crimes. With only 28% of violent crimes solved between 1996 and 2000, the department claims its emphasis is on crime prevention, rather than on solving crime. The department’s chief, Fred Lau, claims he didn’t know his detectives weren’t solving crimes. I see his career with the SFPD being cut very short. Any boss who does not know what his employees are doing is not doing his job.

Last night Jen and I saw Episode II with Ben and Jess at AMC Van Ness. It rocked! Seeing Yoda do battle was definitely one of the coolest parts of the film. He’s like Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid series: Old, wise, and calm most of the time, but willing to kick ass when necessary. Following the movie, we swung by Tommy’s Joynt across the street for drinks. Although it’s supposedly where Metallica hangs out, they weren’t around last night…

On the car front, I still need to decide if/how I’m going to fix my chipped wheel. This metallic cement stuff is one option.

We just had a yummy waffle and fake sausage patty breakfast. Soon it’s off to Point Isabel for fun in the sun with Stella Brie and all her dog friends.