Blog Master G

If only cats could be drafted into Major League Baseball…

The Capital Christian Center in Sacramento is absolutely ridiculous. I remember back in 1995 when they weren’t going to let an eighth-grader give a graduation speech because his hair was too short…now they’ve expelled a kindergartner because her mom’s a stripper at Gold Club Centerfolds. Big deal. She’s doing what she can to earn a living to support her daughter and pay for her to get a good education (at a school whose tuition is surely a rip-off). That’s what’s most important. Not the backwards ideals of this fundamentalist institution. As the stripper mom pointed out, her daughter’s the one enrolled at the school, not her.

Yesterday I read in Google‘s latest newsletter about some of the new APIs developed by programmers around the world. Probably the coolest one I’ve seen so far is the Google Smackdown, which puts one word up against another in a battle of frequency. How it works? Simple. It scans the Google database/the Web for the number of times each word appears, then displays the results. It’s pretty cool. And some words are more popular than you might think.

Last night Jen and I finished watching Star Wars: Episode I in preparation for this week’s opening of Episode II (well, it’s already in theaters as of midnight last night/this morning). Neither of us had seen Episode I since it was out in theaters, and we had forgotten most of it. It certainly got me psyched for the new movie, which hopefully we’ll see at AMC Van Ness, the only theater in the Bay Area with digital projection.

This morning I had to wake up at 5:30 to be here at work for a 7:30 meeting. Gotta run to that now.

Last evening I read Steven Levy’s Newsweek article, Will Blogs Kill Old Media? In it, Levy discusses some bet between blogger Dave Winer, who claims that by 2007 most people will get their news from blogs rather than from The New York Times, and Martin Nisenholtz, who runs the Times’ digital operations. Levy sides with Nisenholtz. Of course he should. I do, too. The simple oversight by Winer is that blogging is about commentary by individuals who usually refer to the established media. In other words, bloggers don’t report the news; they comment on (and link to) the stories written by those who actually report the news (in established publications). As much as I love technology, the Big Media aren’t going away (and I would never want them to). I did, after all, read Levy’s article in the print version of Newsweek that’s delivered to my home every week. I like being able to hang out in the kitchen with Jen and read, not be tied to a computer screen to get my news about the world.

Yesterday I subscribed to a popular WRX email group based in Australia. Having seen thousands of archived messages per month, I was at first surprised by the lack of activity. Around 9pm Pacific Time last night, though, a sudden flurry of postings began. And it quickly occurred to me that in Australia, the U.S. day is night. I posted a question about my chipped wheel and am relieved to have been informed about this metallic cement product. Ahhh…

The mold debate that I started on the Treasure Island message board continues to flourish. I hope to soon leave the island, as I’m tired of my health suffering because of the toxic mold.

I also long for another vacation to Italy. Already. Life is beautiful there.

Afternoon S.H.I.T.
Stories Here on the Internet Today – AKA, What I Read & Found Interesting

Incompetent staff reason for Onion’s success
The Onion cracks me up. Apparently some readers, particularly AOL users (big surprise) don’t get that it’s all a big joke.

Anti-drug ad campaigns a flop
Kids have actually been inspired to take drugs by seeing their pop idols pretent to be drug users on TV.

Cat Goes on Rampage, Evicts Owners
This is great. Cats rule.

E-Learning Struggles To Make The Grade
The industry I call home has always been ahead of its time. No wonder I’m so drawn to it. No one understands what the hell it’s all about.

Last night the Bay Area was rocked by a 5.2 earthquake, the biggest one to hit the area in two years. I was at home about to watch Six Feet Under. Having consumed a bit of wine and staring at the plant atop one of my speakers, I saw the plant rocking back and forth. My immediate thought was, “Cool. We’re having an earthquake.” But as with most earthquakes, it never really registers right away. Then the phone rang. I knew before I answered that it was my Dad calling from across the Bay in Emeryville. In that split second prior to answering, I also knew that my suspicion of the earth’s current shaking was correct. My Dad is an earthquake hound dog, always on alert for the latest tremor.

Yesterday as I pulled out of a parking spot at work, I kicked myself as my wheel hit the curb. Doh! The first chipped-off piece of the wheel of my new WRX. Barely visible to the naked eye, it’s knowing it’s there that gets to me. Time to order some touch-up paint.

Sunday was a chill day around the house. Jen and I did a lot of cleaning. I prepared the Saturn for its Thursday donation to the Cancer Research Institute. I could only remove one of the two Spikes Spiders mounts from the front wheels. I’ll have to enlist the help of the tow truck driver on Thursday to remove the other.

Saturday was a big day for Jen and me. We returned to Brand X Antiques in the Castro to visit the engagement ring that we had first seen the weekend before. Jen knew that it was the one. Now it has a permanent home on her hand. We also broke down and bought a brand-spankin’ new queen-sized bed from Sleep Train. Well, Jen bought it. And I’m damn glad about it. It’s incredibly comfortable.

Italy pictures:
www.gabeanderson.com/italy2002

Tomorrow we leave for Italy! Woohoo! Hopefully things at work will have picked up by the time I get back.

Best Pictures of the Year:
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/ps/poy59/launch.asp

The story on Nana ran in today’s Sacramento Bee. Mom and I are busy with arrangements for Saturday’s service. I still need to write my remarks.

Nana’s obituary ran today in The Sacramento Bee. I miss her so much, but her being gone hasn’t even sunk in yet.