Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Here, I got you this website.

There is so much cool stuff on the internet. There's even more useless stuff, to be sure, but for someone who likes true crime and forensic dramas, for someone who collects snowglobes and miniature landmarks, for some who, when asked about the current administration, thinks not of GW, but of President Bartlett, the internet is a glistening gold mine of tasty nuggets. And there are wonderfully ludicrous tidbits around every corner (case in point, the North Pole Web Cam.). Here is another great example of the overflowing bounty of stuff and things harvested from the web that is world wide: a photo essay of celebrity mug shots. Be sure to look at all 17 of them--the only really sad one is the one of Michael Lookinland.

Marquee Maddness

I just got my film back, so here are a couple of LC-A shots from San Antonio and beyond.



There's nothing quite like a Greyhound Bus station. Endless photographic possibilities.


I'm not much of a Pops fan, but I do love a good marquee.



Even though you can't see the actual lettering on the Mission Thrift marquee, I love how the whole structure appears to be on fire. Disco inferno!

Monday, November 22, 2004

While sitting in traffic

There's nothing like a 40GB iPod on shuffle song mode to get you through your morning commute. This little gem, which I had all but forgotten about, came on during the ever-present Marsh Road backup, and has been flowing pleasantly through my head ever since.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

National SFD Day

I forgot to mention that today is National Scarves for Dogs Day.





I swear, she hates me. And rightly so.

Festive Optics

A shot from Halloween. Rhonda and I attended a cocktail party at the rotunda at city hall in San Francisco, sponsored by the Executive MBA Council. This was the social event for the conference we attended that weekend. Sporting tiara's and Rhonda's red and purple boa, we were the only two out of the whole 400 person group in costume!

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Home again

My super cool dad came through big time, and emailed this mp3 to me. One more change to the holiday cd mix playlist never hurt anybody.

Below: A peek inside my Entre Ed Forum experience. It was a modest conference so no fancy, flashy, in-line booths. A nice table with our books and brochures, and my lap top to demo the Electronic Worksheets and PowerPoint.



It was a nice conference. Small and focused, with many determined and passionate people--the entrepreneurs of tomorrow are in good hands!

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Saturday in San Antonio

Wow, what a neat city! The people here seem very friendly and willing to point me in the direction of their many squashed-penny machines, and the downtown area is cute and filled to the brim with tacky souvenirs (is there any other kind?).



This is me, remembering the Alamo.


In HemisFair Park, I found The Tower of the Americas, a distant relative of the Space Needle. The park and tower were built for the 1968 World's Fair. Now, the gift shop is locked up. But from the top of the tower, I could see many parking lots and hotels, and a freeway. And buildings.



This giant head sculpture was near the entrance to HemisFair Park. Hooray for giant head sculptures!



Yes, I did come here to work. On that note, I'm off to the booth. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Friday, November 12, 2004

Deep in the heart of Texas

Well, in a few hours I'll be on my way to San Antonio, Texas for the 22nd Annual Entrepreneurship Education Forum (this year's theme: Fiesta Entrepreneurship!). I've got high hopes for this conference; there are lots of sessions and events involving local entrepreneurs. It's good to mix up the learning, lectures, and product/materials examinations with real people and conversations about their experiences.

This will be my first out-of-town conference since I got my new digital camera, so expect plenty of action packed updates!

Thursday, November 11, 2004

For the Love of Bowling. And Hats.

Do you ever think about what you would like your funeral to be like? How about your obituary? My friend, Miriam, posted a bulletin asking a bunch of her friends what song they would like to have played at their funerals. The answers ranged from sweet ("Perfect Day" by Lou Reed) to unavoidably cheesy ("Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen) to absolutely perfectly fitting ("Don't Stop Believing" by Journey).

Sure, I think about my obituary, my legacy, what I want to leave behind to my friends and family. In what way do I live my life so that the space created by my eventual passing will reflect the true meaning of me? I aspire to this obituary from yesterday's Palo Alto Daily News:

"Michael Fau, a native of Redwood City who lived there his entire life, has died at the age of 55. Born April 28, 1949, Fau loved bowling and hats."

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that I've lived in a number of places, and plan to live in many more, would never aspire to live in Redwood City, and intend to live well past the age of 55. But how simple. How eloquent. How meaningful and admirable and perfect. He loved bowling, and he loved hats.

Maybe I'll request that my obituary be a haiku.

Deborah Kaye has passed.
She loved her dogs and Scrabble.
We'll miss her muchly.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment, or How My Obsessive Quest For A Song By The Ramones Lead To Many, Many Pop-Ups.

It was last night. I was looking for a song on the internet, so I went to iTunes. I wanted to download The Ramones' cover of Palisades Park. But the song wasn't on iTunes. They had about 250 songs by The Ramones, so it seemed as though the entire discography was available, but no Palisades Park. I was darn near positive that the song was on the album Ramones Mania, because that was the only Ramones album I had in high school (being the greatest hits type of music listener that was at age 15), and I had remembered listing to this song in high school. But the absence of the song from the iTunes offerings caused me to think twice. Three times, actually. You see, I embraced iTunes and the Music Store so quickly and so fully that I now tend to trust iTunes before I trust my own memory. Sure, I remember listening to The Ramones sing Palisades Park with my old high school friend Gill. Sure, I remember the super quick beat behind the carnival-themed bridge between verses. Sure I do...don't I? Well, maybe I'm mistaken, if Apple doesn't have it how can it exist? Don't worry, I haven't fully resigned my soul and free will to the Man. I called Gill, who now lives in Boulder, Colorado (the centennial state), to verify the existence of this song; to sort of act as a witness that I wasn't an absolute fruit loop. So I was half right. The Ramones did indeed release a cover of Palisades Park, but it was on the album called Brain Drain, which, as luck would have it, is not included in iTunes' Ramones repertoire. So I wasn't going to be able to download the song, but at least I wasn't crazy!

By now, I was on a mission. Having proven the existence of the song, I would now own the song. I would find an mp3 of the song, pay for the song, and download it to my precious, still-new, cute little computer. But it had to be an mp3, or at least not a Real Audio file. I've been burned by Real; the songs I bought from them wreaked major havoc on my iTunes, iPod, and CD-burning lifestyle. Big time. So I googled and clicked on links googled some more, trying to find a site on which I could BUY the song. Yes, pay real American dollars (or at least enter my credit card number). I wasn't looking for file sharing for free music, I just wanted--nay, needed--this song.

And then I made a really bad decision.

I clicked my frenzied little way to a Russian mp3-selling website that claimed to have the song--my song. Of course, I didn't get the song there, but I did get a freaking ton of spyware, adware, datamining-ware, and crapware installed on my innocent little computer. It's taken me a good 3 or 4 hours, as well as the downloading and installing of an additional ad-ware busting application (Spybot S&D just couldn't get all of them!), but I think (I hope!) I've finally gotten rid of the last of the intrusive pop-up generating programs. Holy crap, what a mess I made. What a baaaaaaaaaaaad decision.

It's not simply about me being obsessive. I mean, sure that's part of it, but I have a genuine need for this song. This year, I'm, er, reappropriating my friend Julie's annual holiday gift-giving idea: I've created a mix CD to distribute to my family, friends and well-wishers. A very special, thoroughly thought-out, emotion-filled, and super fantastic mix CD! And it had a space reserved on it for Palisades Park, written by one Mr. Charles Barris--former host of The Gong Show, and author of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which became one of the best movies ever. You can plainly see why this song had to be included on the mix CD. But sadly, today was my deadline to stop futzing with the playlist and track order and start designing labels and jewel case inserts (last year's holiday mix CD lost out to laziness and procrastination).

Long story short: Obsessive quest. Bad decision. Lots of pop-ups.

I'll post the super fantastic holiday mix CD playlist here after I've given them out--don't want to ruin the surprise.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

13 days...and counting

For those of you awaiting the DVD release of the first season of one of THE best TV shows ever made (no, not Sabrina, the Teenage Witch--although Melissa Joan Hart is right up there among my favorites, the series has yet to be released on DVD. But perhaps this is something we can change...), you'll be pleased to know that less than 2 weeks time must pass before Home Movies Season One ships. My paper chain grows shorter each day.



I love this shot. Me and my trusty LC-A, tinting the world pink. Or green. Or whichever color we dang well please. Just try and stop us! We'll smear peanut butter on your car windows.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Ah, the splendor: Globes of Snow

I'm running out of space for them on my desk, so this configuration may soon change, but here's a look at the current snow globe collection.



Of course, the prized Fargo globe.

If I could capture this scene, make it tiny and plastic, and put it in a snow globe, you know I would: Nanna gives Brian some tail.

Isn't it s a lovely office? Seaport Green to some, Maalox Green to others.