Random Access Memory

The Secret of Kells

2010-10-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

I watched this animated film last night film and I loved it. It's beautiful and richly animated with a very stylized celtic theme. It doesn't mess itself up by getting too serious or heavy or by falling into many of the cliched traps that it so easily could have done. I also liked the Irish accents and names and how they tied in celtic mythology with early christian tradition and history. The girl in the video is Aisling (pronounced Ashley) and she sings in gaelic: "White fuller, white fuller(the cat's name, Pangur Ban), there is nothing in life but mist, and we are alive, but for a short, sharp while." She is a forest spirit, a fairy, and in this scene helps to free her friend Brendan from where he is locked in the basement. It is an amazing film, nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature and I recommend it to anyone, of any age, and especially to those with celtic roots...

Giants Shock the Phillies...

2010-10-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Cody Ross hit two solo homers from the 8 spot off Halladay and Timmy out pitched him for the win. It's such sweet come-uppance after all the trash talking, overconfident, no respect crap the Phils fans have been spouting. The Giants shock the world and put the Phils in a must win position at home tomorrow. I tried to warn Philly fans about the Giants but they weren't trying to hear that. Nothing feels better than shutting them up. There's a magic feeling to this team of misfits, castoffs and rookies. It's them versus the world and the world had better not take them lightly. The Phillies found that out tonight. Go Giants!!!

DJ Sulli Mix

2010-10-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is a new mix from my friend and former co-resident DJ Sulli aka Sean Sullivan. Sean is a great guy and a talented DJ and producer and owner of the Amfibius Recordings label. He has been playing house music since the early 90's and isn't subject to many of the fads in the genre and manages to play a timeless style that is contemporary but with a classic feel. This mix is free to download if you care to. Enjoy!

Giants beat the Braves!!!

2010-10-11T22:04:00.001-07:00

The Giants beat the Braves tonight to progress to the NLCS against the very formidable Philadelphia Phillies. Looks like game one will be one of the greatest pitching match ups in NLCS history, Lincecum vs. Halladay. The Giants will have to play very well and catch more than their share of breaks and beat a very talented Phillies team to win the NL Pennant. Tonight was the last game of Bobby Cox's long and storied career as manager of the Atlanta Braves. I have always hated the Braves and Cox by proxy but you have to tip your cap to one of the greatest managers of the modern era, second only to Joe Torre in postseason wins I believe. You have to beat the best to be the best and it looks like the Giants will have to play their best ball of the year in the coming games to be the champs. After four hard fought one run games the Giants may have to dig a little deeper. I have faith in our boys and I think that we can do it. Don't stop believing!

Don't stop believing!

2010-10-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

...this could be the season. Black and Orange til I die!

Giants Win!!!

2010-10-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

It began as a 2 hit gem for Jonathan Sanchez who ended up striking out 11 batters along the way. Those 11 strikeouts would have been a Giants post-season record except for the 14 Ks that Lincecum had in game 1 of the series. The Giants starters have not allowed an earned run in the series so far and that is just unbelievable. Cain had an unearned run in game 2 but that's all the starters have allowed. The rotation is the strength of this team and the Braves have been unable to put much offense against them so far. Giants setup man Sergio Romo on the other hand has been dreadful. He gave up two hits to the braves without getting an out in game two and tonight he gave up the go-ahead home run to pinch hitter Eric Hinski in the bottom of the 8th. The Giants were down to their last strike with two outs in the ninth and a runner on first when Freddy Sanchez (my favorite Giant) singled to put the tying run in scoring position. Then Aubrey Huff, who has struggled at the plate in the series so far, singled sharply to right field to plate Travis Ishikawa and tie the game up at 2 runs a piece. Sanchez moved to third on the throw home, which was wide and the Braves catcher Brian McCann moved up the line tripping on Huff's bat and falling hard on his wrist. Then Buster Posey appeared to ground out to the Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad but it skipped through between his legs in a very Bill Buckner-esque play that allowed Sanchez to score easily as he was running on contact with two outs. It was the third error by the Braves second baseman in the game and his 4th in the series. The Braves have been hobbled by injuries to a few of their infielders as well as their closer Billy Wagner and those injuries are turning out to have a huge effect on the series so far. I will not be surprised if Conrad is run out of town post haste if Atlanta fails to progress. This kind of win is exactly what the Giants needed after a tough extra inning loss in game 2. They now have the momentum and Lincecum in reserve if a game 5 becomes necessary. Overall it was a roller coaster ride of a game but it ended well and was an even bigger gut punch than the Braves handed us the game before. It's nice to know that the Giants can come back from the brink this way because that's what champions do. Game 4 tomorrow, go Giants!

Lame Commercial...

2010-10-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ok that commercial really bugs me. I don't usually blog about crap like this but I had to get this off my chest. Those kids were not racing home. Those kids were gonna bully and beat up the little guy. I guess that after they produced this spot Chrysler decided that bullying isn't something they want to have associated with their brand and changed it to the "race you home" idea instead. If not, why is he hiding from his "friends"? Why is he diving into his mom's car and thumbing his nose at the kids chasing him? It's so obvious and insulting and this commercial is getting a lot of play so I just had to say something. I'm not sure this ad is helping them sell many minivans but it sure is bugging the hell out of me, that's for sure. Get a clue Chrysler, damn!

Inland Knights at Triple Crown...

2010-10-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

After getting my heart torn out of my chest by the Giants game on Friday night I decided to go out to the city and get my mind off of the heartbreaking loss. I had been on the fence about going out that night but the idea of sitting around my apartment stewing about the game seemed like a bad idea so I made the ride across the bridge to The Triple Crown to have some drinks and hear some beats. One of my favorite DJ duos, Inland Knights was in town from England and they are very talented house producers and co-owners of one of my favorite labels Drop Music. Some of my favorite tracks of all time have been produced and/or released by Andy Riley and Laurence Ritchie and Drop Music. Needless to say, they did not disappoint and some bumpin house was just what I need to lift my spirits. I love the Triple Crown in every way except one, it's HOT in there. Like way hot, underground party hot, sauna hot, hard to dance unless you're in front of the fan hot. Anyway, I had a good time and saw some friendly faces and reconnected with some of my favorite local DJs and promoters.

Watch an interview at Trip C with Inland Knights HERE

Giants lose a heartbreaker...

2010-10-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I was gonna write a whole blog post about game 2 of the NLDS but to hell with that, you can find that info elsewhere and I'm not gonna relive it if I don't have to... Let's just say they had it in the bag and gave it away... =[

Timmmaayy!!!!

2010-10-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight was your standard 2010 Giants nailbiter 1-0 victory over the Braves. It was slightly unusual in that it was a post-season shutout victory and an unbelievable performance by Tim Lincecum in his first appearance in the playoffs. He held the Braves to two hits and struck out a franchise post-season record 14 batters including the last two outs of the 9th inning. It was a breathtaking thing to behold and will be part of Giants lore for years to come. The offense didn't do much against Atlanta starter Derek Lowe and the Braves bullpen looks downright filthy so I'm hoping the bats can heat it up a little bit in the coming games. Although the Phils and the Yanks look to be the juggernauts of this year's playoffs, the Giants just need to take it one game at a time and worry about those teams when the time comes. For now we just need two more wins to progress to the NLCS and 4 more after that to make the World Series. Anything can happen and if it's meant to be and it looks like the pitching is gonna lead the way. Go Giants and go Timmmmaaaayyy!!!!

The Social Network

2010-10-06T10:05:00.001-07:00

I went and saw "The Social Network" last night and I liked it a lot. After doing a little research it seems that like most movies based on real events, the creators took some liberties with the facts and details. I'm ok with that and I think it wasn't a slam against Mark Zuckerberg as had been portrayed in the media, which prompted him to donate one hundred million dollars to schools in Newark, New Jersey, and on Oprah no less as mitigating PR. More power to him as the youngest billionaire in the world. I began to think about how not long ago Facebook was just some geeks in a dorm room and now just about everyone I know uses it. I'm a bit of an addict myself, and probably spend more time on there than I should. It is very interesting how someone with a great idea can change the world and how you have to fight to keep your idea, because someone will try to take it. There seems to be a limit to what you can do in life before someone sues you. Nature of the beast I guess. Also, if you're interested in finding out just how insignificant you are, go see this movie filled with elite Harvard clubs, old money privilege, overachieving geeks, and huge sums of money being thrown around like it's perfectly normal. It will put your place in the world in perspective in a hurry I promise you...

Kanye on SNL

2010-10-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Simply amazing. I love the imagery and the songs. Also of note is that he changed the lyrics from "Power" (fuck SNL and the whole cast, tell them Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass) to something a little more friendly. I also liked that he performs playing an MPC on "Runaway"...

The Giants are NL West Champs!!!!

2010-10-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

It was a long, tortuous and exciting season and now the Giants are on top! They send the Padres packing excluded from post season play in a rousing 3-0 win at home on the very last day of the season. I am a very happy guy right now. I cried a little. I can't describe what the Giants mean to me. I am a fan for life and Orange & Black flows through my veins. Way to go Giants, now lets get ready for the playoffs! I'll be watching every pitch and rooting for my boys. Anything can happen now.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

2010-10-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Every year in Golden Gate Park, SF Bay Area residents are treated to a world class Folk, Country, and Bluegrass festival, free of charge and open to all comers. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass had it's tenth anniversary this year and it just happened to be the first time I have have gone to check it out. Many of my friends attend regularly and I always wanted to give it a whorl, and I am very happy that I finally did. I met some friends at their place in the avenues, within walking distance of the event for some lunch and a few beers before we made the trek into the park. There are 5 stages with music going all day at each so there's no way to see it all but we managed to catch a little of Joan Baez's set at the very packed Banjo Stage. I'm glad to have got a chance to see her for a bit as she is a legend and a virtuoso of folk music in this modern age. Unfortunately there was nowhere to sit and hardly a place to stand so we moseyed over to the more relaxed atmosphere of the Porch Stage and layed out a blanket with a great view of the acts.
The highlight for me was seeing an artist named Skip Gorman. He played guitar, fiddle and mandolin, all with a deft hand, and sung songs about cowboys and the frontier and open prairies that were sweet and sad and took me back to the ranching days of my youth. He seemed about as authentic as they come and was very pleasant to hear. I could feel an ache that is rare for me except when hearing old timey music like this that made me melancholy and yearning for my younger days on the range in New Mexico, roping and riding and going to the rodeo. I never listened to this kind of music when I was a boy so it's difficult to explain how it stirred up these memories, but something about Skip's songs made me see a place in my mind where the views are long, with sagebrush and mesas, green valleys and arroyos. A feeling of great freedom and intense loneliness, and the vast distances between men. Skip Gorman's music takes you back to a harder but simpler time, and there is a part of me that wishes I could be there. Life can be so complicated and furious sometimes, I often wish I could tack and saddle my horse and just head off in any direction to be alone for a bit, across this great country before there were so many fences.
Here's a quick bio and a sample of this talented man who for a while yesterday moved me across the years and the land, at least in my mind and heart...
FYI, that's Skip onstage in the background of the top pic...

El Guincho - Bombay

2010-10-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

This song and video are both off the scale. Be warned, there is some nudity and strong imagery NSFW...

EL GUINCHO | Bombay from MGdM | Marc Gómez del Moral on Vimeo.

Euro Style Dinner...

2010-10-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

A little brie, Point Reyes blue cheese, smoked salmon, peppered salami, crackers and a pomegranate... yumm... =]

Home.

2010-09-30T10:25:00.001-07:00

I live in Oakland now and I love it but I lived in SF for 13 years and it will always feel like home to me. Lived there longer than any other place in my whole life, so it's in my blood.

Nico the Monkey Dog...

2010-09-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is Nico aka "Monkey" and I am watching him this week while his mommy is in the Caribbean(jealous). He is a cute and spunky Boston Terrier and he reminds me so much why I want a Boston of my very own someday. We get along great and cuddle on the couch at night and he sleeps in the bed with me as well. It's a real treat and even better because I'm getting payed for it. He's not so into it when I watch the Giants games because I get excited and make a racket and he's not sure what to make of that and he gets a little skittish when I hoot and holler and clap my hands. I'll make a Giants fan of him yet...

Sunset Civic Center...

2010-09-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm house/dog sitting for a friend who is in Trinidad & Tobago or Turks & Caicos, one of those Caribbean countries with two names, for a scuba adventure. She's paying me to keep an eye on her lovely house in the Piedmont area of Oakland, and give her pup lots of love. I'm happy to oblige because he's a cute little guy and he likes me. I got Nico (the dog in question) situated and rode into the city for the Pacific Sound Sunset Civic Picnic in the Civic Center plaza of SF. Daniel Bell ended up being the surprise special guest, which was a real treat because I would have had to drop $35 to see him spin the night before at an underground party. His set did not disappoint and he managed to play a mix that kept both the house and techno kids happy, me amongst them. It was hot and sunny again because summer comes late to the bay area, but this year seems to be more intense as though the sun is trying to shove 4 months worth of radiation into a couple weeks. I found a spot in the shadow of both the sound and sun next to a speaker stack where I could dance a little without bursting into flames or going deaf. I find that the music always sounds best just outside the cone of sound just slightly to the side of the stacks where it is loud but not deafening and ear plugs are not required. I also registered to vote at my new address in Oakland and got informed about some statewide propositions. The Sunset crew were not just providing free entertainment but also trying to get folks to do their civic duty and vote and I was happy to oblige. After bumping into many familiar faces and old friends, I bounced out to Truly Mediterranean on 16th street for a Falafel Deluxe and then hit the bay bridge back to the lil doggy. He was happy to see me and that always makes me feel good. I would love a little Boston Terrier of my own someday. Someday...

Saturday in San Francisco

2010-09-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

I had to drop my bike off at O'Hanlon Motorcycles for a major tune Saturday morning which is an all day thing so I decided to spend the day in the city while the work got done. It was hot and sunny in SF which is nice for a change but I had on long pants for the ride across the bay bridge so I was a sweaty mess after all the walking around I ended up doing. Anyway, after dropping the bike off I called my good friend and former roomy Deirdre and we met near the 24th Street BART station for some brunch. We wanted to eat at Boogaloos on Valencia, but as usual there was a line out the door so we went to the new Crepe Vine location down the street instead. I had the eggs bennie with sauteed spinach fruit salad and she had the cornflakes crusted french toast. Yumm on both! After commiserating about the recent drama in our lives we went back to my old pad and spent some quality time in the garden and I helped her move some furniture around the living room.
I got a call from my friend Tadd who had seen my Facebook post about being in the mission(first pic) and we decided to meet at Dolores park(second pic) for some cold ones and people watching. It was nice to walk down Mission street and reminisce about my many years in the mission district. I suppose it will always feel like home to me in a lot of ways and I miss it. Dolores park is always a scene when the weather is nice, with people for days picnicking, tanning, and just generally enjoying themselves. Tadd and I caught up and gossiped a bit and watched folks bolting down the hill on a homemade water slide while listened to a DJ that had set up in the vicinity. Tadd is expecting a baby around the new year and his fiance' was away for a girls retreat and baby shower in San Louis Obispo so he was happy to have the company, as was I. It turned out to be a great way to kill the second half of the day and he was kind enough to drop me off back at the motorcycle shop to pick up my bike.
They do such a great job woking on my motorcycle at O'Hanlon and I'm always happy that I took it there. My bike always seems to be so snappy and responsive after a tune up, I can really feel the difference a quality mechanic can make. I had to drop a chunk of change on the 32k mile major tune and brakes, but since I recently had the tires and chain replaced I shouldn't have to spend much money over the next several years on maintenance which is a load off my mind. Now that I don't commute to work anymore it will likely take me much longer to reach the next 16k mile tuneup, but for now my bike is in top notch shape, mechanically if not cosmetically and should take me another 100k miles before it requires replacement.
It was nice to get the work done as it was slightly overdue, and even nicer to get to spend the day with friends and being spontaneous on a gorgeous day in SF. If the Giants hadn't lost to Colorado in extra innings that night, I might have been tempted to call it a perfect day...

A Decade of Apple Improvement...

2010-09-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

The technical specs for Apple's 2000 iMac and the 2010 iPhone 4:

According to Moore's Law the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years since it's invention. Above is exhibit "A" in proof of this concept in action. Apple's number one selling device is (roughly) at least twice as powerful, a hundred times as portable(by weight), and three times as affordable than it was a decade ago because of this paradigm. It's exciting to compare these devices at this fundamental level and extrapolate it into the future. Moore's law is is supposedly going to begin a flattening of the growth curve within the decade barring any unpredicted advances in processor technology due to the limits of scale for molecular circuits. It should be noted that the same has been said about every decade since the advent of this convention, so it may be impossible to predict the exact limits of the exponential growth of data processing.
The main drawback to Moore's law is the intrinsic and perpetual obsolescence of our computing devices. The picture above is also exhibit "A" for this problem. I look forward to the same graphic a decade hence, and revel at the thought of remembering our quaint iPhone 4s in the same manner that I do now for the original iMac.

Mozilla Seabird Smartphone Concept...

2010-09-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

I love my iPhone. I have seen and tested the alternatives, and the android phones are certainly giving the industry standard a run for it's money but I have never been tempted to defect from Apple. Until now. Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox browser have thrown their hat in the mobile tech ring with this sexy concept video. The video has me drooling and I would seriously consider this phone as my new rig from what I see here. At this point it's still just a concept, so I can assume that it would take at least a year to hit the market, and I'm also assuming that it would be pricey with all of those hardware features. A phone with not one, but two PICO projectors, IR tracking, and a built in bluetooth headset? Delicious! And that's coming from a die hard Apple fan-boy. Competition is always good for the consumer, so here's hoping this is the direction that we are headed in mobile tech. Raise the bar, and then raise it again I say...

Favorite Sites...

2010-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post something but my creativity seems to have taken the day off so I'll just post a bunch of sites that I enjoy trolling... =P

I'm a moderator on this forum, but it's probably not terribly interesting for someone who doesn't play this particular game:
Axis & Allies ForuMini

Tech:
•Gizmodo - In fact I read most of the Gawker Media Sites, they have great content.
•The Unofficial Apple Weblog - For all things Apple.
•The Apple Core - Shout out to my boy Jason O'Grady.
•Engadget - Dry but thorough tech stuff.
•Wired - Online magazine.

Politics:
•Huffington Post - I am getting less and less fond of this site. It's become the liberal Drudge Report.
•Crooks And Liars - A one stop shop for your unapologetic progressive outrage.
•Slate - Decent writing, more balanced that HuffPo but definitely slants left.
•Salon - Same description as Slate.

General:
•BoingBoing - Love it!
•SlashDot - News for nerds.
•Pitchfork - Only good music.

That's the cream of the crop. I suppose I can add anything I may have overlooked later...

Hooked on Minecraft!

2010-09-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

There's a buzz about this new game Minecraft so I thought I would check it out and wow, just wow. It's so simple and intuitive and bordering on genius. Although the graphics are painfully simple, the scope and possibilities are endless. Explore, collect, craft, build, and then delve deeper and deeper into the earth in search of rare elements and adventure. It has a very Robinson Crusoe vibe to it. You start with nothing in a strange land and must build a shelter, tools, and weapons from scratch. The sun rises and sets with a regularity that makes every action seem urgent. Monsters come out at night requiring you to spend a fair amount of time indoors, which is a great time to mine and explore underground...
There is nothing in the world that you cannot change to suit your whims, and everything is a consumable resource, but there is an underlying message of living within your means. If you cut down all the trees for their wood then you are out of luck, unless you bothered to plant more as you went along. The environment is yours to exploit and consume, but there is a very real world price to pay for your choices. Be careful you don't turn paradise into a lunar landscape in your lust for bigger and more...
I can see myself pouring way too many hours into this game. You can make a whole day disappear escaping into this world where you are all powerful and can constantly tweak and improve your creations. I'm so addicted, and loving it...

New Mix - "It Is What It Is"

2010-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

It Is What It Is by Tycho Sean

This is a new mix that I made from a collection of songs that I have been loving lately(see sidebar). I wanted to see what I could put together using my new Novation Dicer Serato Controllers. There are a few rough spots because the trims on my mixer need to be replaced, and they short out intermittently. I also should have practiced this set a few more times before recording it but whatever, it's recorded live so you get the idea. Please enjoy and feel free to download...

Fort Ord Airsoft

2010-09-18T19:29:00.001-07:00

I just got home from a day of Airsoft action at the abandoned army base Fort Ord in Marina California, near Monterey. I went with two of my friends, Devin and John, who essentially got me into the game, and who both have more experience than I do. Devin, who is pictured on the right in the shot above, may not be intimidating to look at but he is a beast on the field. Single handedly clearing buildings with his sidearm, or barking commands to less experienced players, he is well respected by the organizers and really knows what he's doing. He lent me his Model 1911 pistol with a hard holster which is a necessity at Fort Ord as primary weapons are not permitted for indoor engagements. With all the house to house fighting at this airsoft course, I was glad to have it but never got to fire it at an opponent. I'm still getting used to the game and tend to use my time for supporting fire and flanking maneuvers. I did get to try out my brand new JG AK-47 Auto-Electric Assault Rifle (the vid in this link is the exact model that I have), and the Blackhawk Tactical Vest that I got for a great price from a local guy off of Craigslist.
The Fort Ord airsoft course is run by Roundhouse Productions and is located on a portion of the old abandoned army/navy base that was vacated in the 1990's. The play map is a rectangular grid of buildings, mostly two story barracks with the glass windows removed and the interiors gutted. There is a sloping hill on one side of the complex and various overgrown trees and beds of wild ice plant. Here are some pics to illustrate:

We went dressed as civilian militia with T-shirts and blue jeans as apposed to full camo BDUs. Fort Ord is pretty strict about the dress code so it's easy to identify what team people are on. With house to house fighting and people firing from windows you have to be able to tell friend from foe at a glance. I will probably have to get some BDUs at some point because my friends will often wear theirs and I prefer to play on the same team as them. Our militia dominated the first scenario, taking the objective from the enemy and keeping the opposing team from taking it back for the duration of the round. Each round of action goes for roughly an hour to an hour and a half. The second round game was a little more fairly matched as our enemies were given five minutes to take control of the strategic points before we could deploy. We then had to sytematically clear buildings across the fort, dislodging them from defensive positions and pushing them back as we went. I had just made my way to the firing line at the far end of the fort where most of the action was happening when they called game over. I had been in some scrapes along the way, being pinned down by crossfire from second story windows and a sniper that I could not see no matter how hard I looked for him. He sure could see me because he would pepper my position every time I poked my head out to take a look. I died more times than I killed but I had a ton of fun and that's how it goes when you're learning the ropes. One of the main drawbacks of airsoft is that it is an honor system with no paintballs to mark hits. I swear I shot a couple guys who didn't call their hits but that's also how it goes. We stayed for the raffle, which is included as part of the registration fee, but we didn't win any of the prizes and decided to skip the final round of play. My back and legs are thanking me for that right now. Sore, sweaty, and dirty, maybe I should go hop in the shower and leave this blogging stuff for later...

Giants vs. Brewers Orange Friday

2010-09-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

I attended what was likely my last Giants game of the season tonight. It was a lackluster game with the Giants playing sloppy defense and struggling mightily against Brewers pitcher Randy Wolf. Madison Bumgarner pitched well but the offense took the night off and the defensive mis-cues really ended up hurting us. 3-0 Brew Crew was the final score. It was however a packed-house sell-out crowd, partly because there are only like 8 more home games left in the season and partly because the first 20,000 fans received free Buster Posey T-shirts as an Orange Friday promotion. My date was not a big t-shirt wearer so I scored two of them, mine and hers. Suh-weet! The tickets I bought were the definition of nose bleed. Top row upper deck with our backs to the blasting foggy wind coming through the plastic mesh that is there more to keep you from getting vertigo than to give you any sort of protection from the elements. The view was good though, and the company, and the garlic fries. We'll get 'em tomorrow boys! Go giants!

Arcade Fire Genius

2010-09-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

When Arcade Fire created this interactive HTML5 based music video, I'm not sure they realized what a game changer it would be. This is the future. Like Michael Jackson's Thriller of decades past, Wilderness Downtown is ahead of it's time and raises the bar for all new artists seeking to make an impression through the medium of music videos. MTV pioneered the presentation of this art form but has all but abandoned it to the purview of the web and rightfully so in my opinion. Arcade fire has taken it even further afield with a personalized and rich media presentation drawing from Google's seemingly endless well of information. The video above is a screen capture vid of someone's browser based experience as I cannot embed the film itself. Because it is not a video per se, but a series of browser window presentations linking to Google Maps, it has to be experienced live and I will provide a link below so that you might try it out for yourself. The music and the concept are both top notch. I will warn you that this might be a heavy load for the processors of older computers and will not work at all for browsers that have not yet been updated to support HTML5...

Wilderness Downtown Link

Nex

2010-09-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't intend for my reborn blog to have a culinary focus but this week has been one of amazing meals and a renewed love of good food. Last night I had dinner at Nex, which is "Next" door to Mua and has the same ownership. My good friend and coworker Hamid handles three shifts a week at Nex on top of his day job and he has been asking me to come in and take it for a spin. I invited a lovely lady to join me for dinner, who shall remain unnamed, and she does not eat meat or poultry so we focused on the fish and non-meat dishes. We were very happy with our selections; the gnocci with mascarpone porcini cream sauce (delish), the grilled blue prawns(heads on, succulent and crunchy), and the oyster special with jalapeno sorbet(drool). We also had the Nex flatbread pizza with caramelized onions, feta, olives, and anchovies. It was the perfect choice with rich flavors but not too big and the dough was very fresh and tasty. Desert was the chocolate pot-a-creme and complementary glasses of a moscat desert wine. The cocktails and service were excellent, and I felt like a VIP. If you are a fan of Mua but looking for a more mellow environment and an alternative selection of items, just hop next door to Nex. You'll be glad you did. If you see Hamid, tell him Sean sent you...

Valkyrie Tattoo

2010-09-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

After work yesterday I made the ride up to Valkyrie Tattoo in Penngrove just outside of Petaluma, CA. It was the final sitting for my tattoo, which is my first, and quite possibly my last. I have to say that those who told me I would get addicted to inking are not correct in my case. I'm not sure that I will get any more tats, although I do have a few ideas floating around so you never know. Harry and Jen are the artists at Valkyrie and Harry did my tat in a work trade for some DJ services I provided for a wild house party he and his wife Debi threw in May. It was a fun party and I would have done it for free so the gift of the tattoo is even more touching. I have enjoyed the process and the compliments that I have been getting as a result so thanks to Harry and Debi and Valkyrie Tattoo!

Chop Bar

2010-09-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying treating myself to some nice lunches at Chop Bar in the Jack London warehouse/loft district of Oakland around the corner from my work. I was pleased to find out today that it is co-owned by an old acquaintance Chris, the former owner of Bruno's and East Side West in SF. He was there to seat me and we quickly caught up. Chris suggested that I try the Bahn-Mi pork sandwich or the meatloaf daily special but I was feeling like something lighter and got the soup of the day (potato) and the heirloom tomato salad. Both were very good though I had to salt the soup (no biggie), and they got me in and out without stretching my 1/2 hour lunch and I might also mention that their pulled pork sandwich was all the rage at the Oakland food festival EatReal. A nice addition to the neighborhood and a great reminder of what a small world the Bay Area can be. Small world indeed as Chris was also having dinner at Bar Agricole the same night that I was...

Leafy Green Spring Sampler...

2010-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Leafy Green Spring Mix '10 by Tycho Sean

I'm recording a new mix sometime this week that I'm excited to share. This is my spring 2010 demo. It's very rough and mixed live, no automation, but I'm fairly happy with it...

Bar Agricole

2010-09-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

After Power to the Hippies was over I scooted over to Bar Agricole to meet my old roomie and friend Brett Kokoruda for dinner and drinks. His lady Jen was visiting from Boston and looking radiant, as well as Miles, the guy who occupies my old room and his GF. Also joining us was the wife of the owner who's name escapes me at the moment but she was lovely and great company (as well as hooking us up with 50% off our bill). It was the best dinner I have had in recent memory and I wish that I had more pictures of the food to share here. I did manage to get a shot of the desserts before we inhaled them which is a good thing. The food, drinks, atmosphere, conversation, and company were exemplary and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a casual but quality place for a date or a private party. Top notch mixology and an ever evolving menu make Bar Agricole a sure fire treat for those who consider themselves connoisseurs of contemporary cuisine. Simple, high quality and unpretentious, it's just the kind of place I love, although I did feel a little underdressed after Hippy-Fest in the park... Five stars, especially at half price...

Power to the Peaceful

2010-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Power to the Peaceful concert in Golden Gate Park was last Saturday and it was a gorgeous day in SF. So sunny in fact that I got a bit of a sunburn. I met my friends Debi and Harry Tucker and their daughter Stella for a nice day of hippy music and people watching. Last year I commented that I was the only person there without a tattoo so I was happy that it was no longer the case. It's a free all ages concert in the park for peace and love and all that, and though I'm not a big Spearhead fan I always like to go and check it out. The crowd was large, almost 70,000 or so, and diverse so the people watching was entertaining. It would have taken me an hour longer to get there from Oakland if I wasn't riding my bike and able to slip through traffic and find easy parking. What a scene. All the underage guys were rocking Justin Beiber haircuts and all the underage girls were showing off their bodies but looking very uncomfortable doing it. It's amazing the things that you notice as you get older. I also find it interesting that those who rail against capitalism the most are there in force selling T-shirts, cold beer and water, pot food and just about everything else. I wanted to spend more time at the DJ stage but Debi and I mostly posted at our blanket and caught up and listened to the bands. Harry with young Stella on his shoulders went on a mission to the front of the stage and got to meet Michael Franti after the concert was over. Debi and I were more than happy to hold it down in the rear where we could chill and talk. Sunscreen next year, just to be safe...

Tim Love Lee on East Village Radio...

2010-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Great weekly radio show by one of my favorite DJs, Tim "Love" Lee. Checkit, and the archives. In case you were wondering, he's the one with the beard and the British accent...
Two For Tennis • East Village Radio

List of Upcoming Updates...

2010-09-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

1. Moved to Oakland almost a year ago. Pics of my Apartment.
2. This week:
• Final sitting for my new tattoo Wednesday. Pics of that.
• Giants game Friday night. Pics of that.
• Airsoft at Ford Ord near Monterey on Saturday. Pics of that.
3. Getting back to my Jiu Jitsu practice ASAP after falling off hard.
4. Any tech related stuff that I have been thinking about in the last year of blog absence.
5. Politics of course.
6. Gaming and geek life.
7. Wuddever else I want to share I suppose.

It's been too long...

2010-09-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

But I'm finally thinking about dusting off the old blog. I have had time to reorg my life and come up with some content ideas. Not that I had many readers to begin with, but perhaps actually adding regular content is the best remedy for that...

More to come...

First Jiu Jitsu Tournament.....

2009-07-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

We had an "In House" tournament at my BJJ academy last Sunday. I won two and lost two matches which was a lot of fights for a first event! I was extremely sore the next day but enjoyed it thoroughly. Here are the vids of my wins, the first is missing the first 20 seconds or so...

My Birthday...

2009-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

The 28th of june was my 31st birthday. It fell on a Sunday this year so I made a weekend of it. The David Byrne show at the Greek Theater was the jumping off point, Saturday is a little hazy, but Sunday was a day well spent with friends. We met a Dolores park for a picnic/drinking and toasted my health while getting toasted by the 90º sunny weather.

So much for a second wind...

2009-07-18T20:32:00.001-07:00

Thought I was going to do a better job of keeping this updated but oh well...three weeks later

The video below is someone else's capturing of the second encore, "Burning Down The House" from that night at the David Byrne show. I love the Greek theater in Berkeley. It's the best place to see a show that I have ever been. It's just up the hill from the UC campus next to the stadium where the Cal Bears football team plays. When the weather is nice, it's the most perfect venue to see a good band.

"Devotchka" opened for David Byrne and they were a very talented act, with and haunting gypsy sound and a sultry female tuba player holding down the basslines. This four person band manages to play the accordion, violin, guitar, Oud, Souzaphone(big tuba), Stand up bass, trumpet, and percussion instruments in various arrangements to great effect. I recommend you to check them out.

David Byrne at the Greek Theater....

2009-06-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sunset Treasure Island...

2009-06-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

What's better than partying in the lovely city of San Francisco???

Partying on a small island just off the coast of the lovely city of San Francisco, that's what!

What a superb day! Awesome crowd, great music, sunny weather, and the most amazing location I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Nice work guys! Can't wait for the repeat next year...

Here's a link to a great story about the event....and check the video to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

My Old Friend the Homecoming Queen...

2009-06-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is Debi and her adorable daughter Stella. Debi and I were very close in High School (she really was the Homecoming Queen) and unfortunately we lost touch around 9 years ago. She lives in Santa Rosa and she found me on the Facebook machine and I'm sure glad that she did!

I left my Mom's in Kelseyville on Saturday, the day after Caitlyn's graduation and the weather was fine for riding. The roads between Lake County and Sonoma County are great for motorcycling and I heartily enjoyed the trip to Santa Rosa to visit my friend. California is beautiful in the spring/early summer when it's warm and sunny but before it gets too dry and the hills turn brown. It was warm and green with lovely smells of wildflowers and soil. The countryside is best traveled on a bike where you can feel the air and smell the smells, when temperature changes are sudden and the sun is on your back. The curvy roads in Northern California are some of the best riding in the world, with hills and valleys, plains and forests, and vineyards for days.

Anyway, after a few hours of delightful scenery I arrived at the home of Deb and her husband Harry near downtown Santa Rosa. They have a cute place with a big back yard though they tell me the neighborhood can be a little rough around the edges so to speak. Harry is a Grave Digger, Tattoo Artist, Landscaping Expert, and awesome father. Debi is a stay at home Mom and seems happy doing that. I will most likely get my first tattoo from Harry but that is a topic for another blog post.

Stella, who is the cutest little girl ever, was a real treat to make the acquaintance of, although she seemed to be a little unsure about me at first. Apparently she has serious food allergies and they live a dairy free existence with nothing in the house that might upset her. I was very touched when Debi broke out the "Special Cheese" and spinach dip just for my visit because they generally never have anything like that. We talked and caught up, snacked and drank beer and the time flew by and then it was time to go. I had to get back to the city to go to a Giants game with my friend Jay to watch my boys kick the crap out of the A's, which they did. What an amazing day!

Thanks Deb and Harry! I can't wait to visit again!

My Sister's Graduation

2009-06-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I went to Lake County for a quick visit and to show love to my sister Caitlyn and congratulate her on her High School graduation. Caitie is all grown up now, she really looks like a woman and is officially an adult at 18 years old. We are all very proud of her and her whole west coast family showed up to cheer her on as she made the walk across the stage with all the other graduates of Kelseyville High.

The graduation was held fairly late, at 8pm as there was a fireworks show after the event, which was very cool. My graduation was held at 6pm and the audience was forced to stare straight west into the setting sun from the bleachers at Willits High. I liked the way they did it at Kelseyville much better! All the pictures from my grad were horribly washed out and we never got any fireworks!

Before the late ceremony we all went to dinner at the Saw Shop in downtown Kelseyville and it was very nice. There was Caitlyn and I, my Mother, my Aunt and Uncle Bill and Jenna, Cousin Dove and his wife Jackie, and my Brother Chuck. The food was good and so was the company. Caitlyn got a brand new laptop computer which she liked very much, and later after the grad her father's family gave her a cute little car that they had fixed up for her. Lucky girl! I didn't get any computer or car upon graduation and I'm soooooo jealous!

Good job Caitie! Now get a job. ;)

The Laziest Blogger in the World.....

2009-06-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's me. I have been very lazy when it comes to my blog lately. I feel bad because I have offered this blog as a way for folks to keep up with me and what's happening in my life and I haven't really posted any content for over a month. There are a few reasons for this but no real excuses. I do have a lot of back filling to update all of the great things I have been up to lately. I also want to get into the nuts and bolts of my routine, so anyone can get a feel for my daily life and not just the interesting items I have to share. I personally think my life is pretty interesting, not riveting by any stretch, but cool enough. I feel a second wind coming on......

Pictures of Kelseyville, Lake County CA

2009-06-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Point Arena, Mendocino County CA

2009-06-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

2009-06-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

Since I have been extremely lazy after the initial rush of blogging, and haven't posted anything in 2 weeks I think I should give a quick description of what I've been up to.

• Stompy/Sunset Memorial Day @ Cafe Cocomo W/ Jimpster

• Rode up to Point Arena on the Coast in Mendocino County to visit friends. Pics to come...

• Taco Tuesday @ Triple Crown W/ Cole & Galen

That's all for now, I'll try to be more thorough moving forward...

KublaCon '09

2009-05-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a long day of gaming at one of the major local game conventions, KublaCon. I arrived around noon to the Burlingame Hyatt and got situated with all of my gear. I can tell you that I was just about maxed out on what I can safely transport on my bike. Two organizers full of minis, and two messenger bags filled with all the other crap I might need. I got a free pass to the event for hosting the tournament and demo, a luxury usually reserved for the older more established players in my group, but a few couldn't make it so I volunteered.

Got a decent turnout for the demo, where I taught two youngsters how to play and my friend John showed up just in time to teach two more. There was a crazy guy (there are tons of kooks at the cons) dressed in a pseudo-nazi outfit and rocking the worst fake German accent and Axis shtick. "I must deliver this intel to mein fuhrer!" He lingered around but thankfully never got in a game.

As a side note these game conventions are a trip. Imagine every highly intelligent socially inept person you ever met and multiply that by a hundred (or maybe more). Add a lack of females (all under-age or over-weight) and silly costumes, think somewhere between a ren-faire and a trecky convention and you've just about got it. Now for the recusements.....

I should probably be more forthright about this whole thing, especially since I have been blogging about it quite a bit. I'm a nerd. Specifically (but not exclusively) a game nerd. More specifically a WWII game nerd. I have been playing, collecting, and competing in Axis & Allies Miniatures for about three years now. It's a turn based, hex map, card, and dice driven collectible WWII themed miniatures game by Avalon Hill (which is owned by Wizards of the Coast, which is owned by Hasbro). I'm a fixture on the forums and I own everything in the game with multiples of most stuff. I compete with the most advanced rules and play at the highest level. I'm good at it and I enjoy the play group that we have here in the Bay Area. They are great guys that I would not know otherwise, and I realize how disparate the many circles I run in can be and I appreciate that about myself.

Back to the con.....After we demoed the game for the young ones and got some lunch (crappy overpriced hotel/cafeteria food) we got set up for the tournament. No one that we don't know showed up to play so it was just the usual suspects, John, Scott, Dave and myself. I designed a progressive, by year, tournament in four rounds (1939,41,43,45) and it went well. I kicked major ass in the early war rounds and had the favor returned in the latter half of the tourny. Let's just say that my last two games were very forgettable at best. We played from 5pm until after midnight but got all the rounds in and had some prizes provided by Kubla so it was all around good fun even though it ended poorly for me. Above is a picture of my Commonwealth team from the last round just before it was demolished by some Germans..........I made a crucial mistake early and then my dice went cold cold cold..........

Conservative Talk Show Host Agrees To Be Waterboarded...

2009-05-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

"Erich "Mancow" Muller, a Chicago-based conservative radio host, recently decided to silence the critics once and for all. He would undergo the procedure himself, and then he would be able to confidently convince others that it is not, in fact, torture."
- From Huffington Post

He lasts all of 4 seconds before completely changing his tune. This video should be shown on every news network that has pundits defending the practice. We did this 6 times a day for over a month to one detainee. I can't believe that there was any information that could have been withheld by anyone after the first day of such abuse, let alone the first week or the entire month.

Take a look (sorry about the ads):

And his opinion change after mere seconds of this:

Wake up America...

Redwood City Shores Gaming...

2009-05-21T19:30:00.001-07:00

The one Kurt Gish is the man. He kindly hosts A&A Minis gaming night after hours at his work once a month or so. We use one of the boardrooms at the biotech firm he works for in Redwood City. My boy John picked me up at Millbrae BART and Kurt was nice enough to drop me off in the city on his way back to Oaktown (no headlight on my bike, now fixed). We gamed from 6pm til Midnight in the blink of an eye it seemed testing the format for the tournament I'm running this weekend at a local game convention aka KublaCon.

The gentleman that he is, Kurt provides dinner (different every time) and a few bottles of great red wine. We had awesome Thai food this time and bottles of Zin, Pinot, and Syrah. Nobody likes to miss game nights with Kurt so the turnout is consistent, and the games tend to be good ones. I lost twice, but hell I was just practicing for this weekend. Or something.

Giants Vs. Mets

2009-05-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, my favorite place on earth, 24 Willie Mays Plaza. Damn what a beautiful yard! Dodgers Stadium was like something out of the seventies. I half way expected the Brady Bunch to sing the National Anthem there.

Anyway, my buddy Ben that I grew up with called and told me he would be in the Bay Area (he lives in Humboldt county) for the weekend and he wanted to go to a Giants game. "I'm in!" I said. He arranged tix for the Giants Saturday game against the NY Mets and it was a scorcher. Must have been 85-90 in the sun, which is where our seats were. I sweated my ass off through the first half of the game and then had to find shade so I wandered around for a bit and found a cute concessions girl to flirt with. We had a good time even though the Giants lost and went to a bay side bar called the High Dive for drinks and appetizers after the game. Thanks for that Ben, I always enjoy a Giants game with friends!

Dirtybird at the Avalon Hollywood

2009-05-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

After the awful experience of the previous post, Colin and I slunk back to his place with our tails between our legs. We chilled out for a while and decided to do dinner at an Indian food place within walking distance on Sunset. My boyhood friend Samah Tokmachi, who was my best friend from 1st thru 4th grades in New Mexico before I moved to California, lives in LA now and joined us for dinner. He found me on Friendster a few years back (remember Friendster?) and I have been trying to reconnect with him but I seldom spend much time in LA so I wanted to make an effort to see him while I was there. We reminisced about our youth and he pulled out some random stories about me that I had very little recollection of. Needless to say it's weird when someone has better memories of you than you have of yourself, especially when they are as unflattering as the stories he was telling. I won't go into detail about these scandalous musings.
Dinner was tasty and the conversation entertaining but it was getting late so we wrapped it up. Both Colin and Samah declined to join me for some clubbing in Hollywood even though they had said previously that they would. Colin had to work at 5am so I couldn't slight him there and maybe it was better for me to make a solo mission out of that evening anyway. I came very close to not going out at all, but Colin had to sleep and I wasn't ready for bed soooooo.......
When I saw that Dirtybird was promoting an event in Hollywood the weekend I thought that I would just have to go. I tried to get in touch with Justin for some guest list action but he never responded so I payed the $30 at the door to get in. Let me just say that I don't do a lot of clubbing usually, I'm more of a lounge/underground/outdoor party kinda guy. I generally stay away from the bridge & tunnel and meat-market crowd in SF. The Avalon Ballroom is right down on Hollywood and Vine and there was a lot of people out on a Saturday night in LA even at 1am when I arrived. The club was filled with guys, lots of guys, lots of old Asian guys, lots of old Asian guys on Ecstasy. And the strangest thing to me was all the people in the club wearing surgical masks. Yes, surgical masks. I would say at least ten percent of the crowd had them on. I think that is very strange. If you are that scared of H1N1 then stay home, right? That's the way I look at it.
I saw a few friends that are ex-bay area heads, which was nice, and eventually one of them gave me a wristband to go backstage, where all the SF folks were hanging out. I got the above shot of Claude VonStroke from there. I hung out totally sober until 4am with people rolling their faces off all around me then I headed out. It was pretty cool I guess. It's just weird to pay so much to see DJs that I can see on the cheap at home. The venue was cool though and now I can add this "clubbing in Hollywood" story to the annals of my personal history.
Got back to Colin's shortly before he woke for work and slept a deep deep sleep. Sunday would include a painful ride home and I really needed to rest up for that.....

Entering the Heart of Darkness (aka Dodger Stadium)

2009-05-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'll start at the beginning, and that's waking up on Colin's couch. Colin has breakfast made, eggs cooked perfectly, white sharp cheese, avocado and toast with butter. I am sad because I can't eat more than half of it. I have trouble eating before I've been awake for a couple of hours, I have no idea why.

We eat, shower and dress, then roll out and into the neighborhood. There's a farmer's market around the corner and it's a good one. Its a triangular park that borders Sunset and they turn it into the most perfect little street fair with great produce, art, and lovely, interesting people walking around everywhere. I was particularly struck by the all female acoustic guitar/ukulele quartet that had a south American/Peruvian vibe and dress.

We proceeded to Colin's work Intelligentsia on Sunset. They are the quintessential scientific/European coffee bar. Only coffee and pastries, but with lines out the door and onto the sidewalk. Colin and I had a "Gibraltar" which is like a latte' in a shot glass. He forbade me from adding any sweetener. It was good. Then we had a $7 cup of coffee. Yes, a cup of coffee, for $7. Again I was forbidden from adding cream or sugar. Heaven forbid I disturb the flavors of the co-op grown, single plot, organic, fair trade, artisan coffee beans. It was ok. If I wasn't getting it for free then I wouldn't have had this experience, so I try to go with the flow.

Now I must begin one of the saddest stories of my life; that of watching my beloved Giants play like a farm team at Dodger Stadium. They won Friday handily, and Sunday after 13 innings, but on Saturday it was sad. Just sad.

Let me preface by telling you about the build up to this game. I wore my Giants gear into Yankee stadium to see my team, and I wasn't going to be cowed into forsaking my allegiances in enemy territory. Let me be clear. I hate the Dodgers. Hate. It's a strong word. Being in an edifice devoted to the glorification of this franchise was an affront to every sensibility that I posess. But I digress....What I was trying to say was that everyone was telling us to be scared to go to Dodger Stadium. "You're gonna get beat up/spit on/beer stained/food thrown on you, etc." Colin was reading me online reports of Giants fans getting stabbed in the parking lot, and when the security spotted our Giants lids upon entry they told us to watch our backs. I NEVER want to have security anywhere tell me to watch my back....and needless to say there was some apprehension on our part. We quickly found our seats and stayed there until the 3rd inning.

The game was a joke. I had given Colin the lowdown on the Giants' most exciting rookie starter, Pablo Sandoval, so of course he didn't play. His replacement Juan Uribe, played unbelievably bad defense and the Giants had 4 hits in the game. They lost 8 to 0 and gave up RBI hits to the Dodger's backup shortstop (a Double A player), and the pitcher Stultz, who threw a complete game 4 hit shutout. It was quite possibly the worst Giant's baseball game that I have ever seen. Listening to thousands of Dodger's fans (who showed up in the 3rd inning and left in the 8th) cheering in this game was one of the most painful torments I have had to face as a man.

We never got beat up. In fact the worst we got was a "Giants suck!" here and there. I speculate that it might have been different on a drunken Friday night game that the Giants win. Overall I'm glad we went. Go Giants! The Dodgers dogs were not very good and besides the weather there was nothing in Dodger Stadium that was better than we have in SF. Not one thing.

Friday from SF to LA...

2009-05-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

The ride down was long but I made good time on Interstate 5. The weather was warm and sunny but not hot (thank God). I5 is long and straight and fast but boooooooring. I managed to make it on two fill ups, and averaged 44 miles per gallon which is pretty solid. I was stiff and sore when I got to Colin's house but he had cold beer waiting and that was real nice of him.
We decided to do the Kogi Taco Truck which is this famous vendor that uses Twitter to advertise their location. It happens to be a different spot every time I guess. I heard of them on NPR when a corespondent went for some shortrib tacos and did a piece for the radio. A film crew was there that night filming as Colin and I waited as well. They start serving at 10pm but folks begin to line up around 9 and you can guess what that means. Yes, we waited an hour and 20 minutes for our food but were smart enough to stop for Al Pastor (Mexican BBQ Pork) tacos at a competitor on the way to keep us from dying of low blood sugar while we waited.
After the long wait (the line went around the corner for Pete's sake) we both ordered one each of the pork, beef, & chicken tacos and they were good. Damn good! With sesame, chili, and kim-chee flavors smothering the BBQ meats wrapped in corn tortillas it was seriously tasty! Well worth the effort. Colin had an Korean Aloe soda (yes Aloe like the plant they use in lotion) and I had a Korean rice punch with actual pieces of rice swimming around in it, both in those little aluminum cans they serve on airlines sometimes. I didn't try the aloe but the rice punch was soooooo good! Kinda like a rice iced tea with little chunks of rice floating around on top. Surprisingly tasty, I have resolved to find some to buy. I will have to find it in a Korean grocery store most likely.
After our well deserved meal, hunger is the best spice after all, we rode back to Colin's along the Silver Lake Reservoir road (very nice) and stopped to pick up a bottle of scotch. We drank that in honor of our Grandfather Charles Byrne, who I am told was a scotch man, until we were sloshy and talking about old times, and then we passed out happy. That ends Friday.

Ps. The moon was very full that night and bright on all the palm trees......

Back Log Blog......

2009-05-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have so much to write about from my trip to Los Angeles. I can't get it all done today but here's a little preview of the great stuff I did in the lo-cal.....

Friday 5•8•09:

• Rode the Silver Lake Resovoire road to get authentico Al Pastor tacos to tide us over while waiting 1.5 hours in line for the.....

• Kogi Taco Truck....Yes the world famous Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck. Long wait but well worth it....

Saturday 5•9•09:

• Silver Lake Farmer's Market.....Right around the corner from Colin's place every Saturday. Great booths, cool little park with grass & fountain and street musicians......

• Intelligentsia......Colin's work, where coffee is a science and the line is long all day....

• Giants Vs. Dodgers.....Don't want to talk about the game. =[ There were some moments worth relating but the game was a disaster.

• Dinner with my boyhood best friend from New Mexico, Samah Tokmachi, which was very nice, except that he knows more about my childhood than I do which is an odd feeling....

• Dirtybird at the Avalon Hollywood.....Can you say old asian guys, people rolling their brains out and get this; surgical masks are apparently the new style in the LA club scene. Saw some ex-bay heads though and represented to the fullest.

Sunday 5•10•09:

• Slept in.

• Called Mom.

• Got coffee and wrote this while waiting for Colin to get off from his Sunday morning shift. Taking 5 back instead of 101 because I don't want my ass to suffer the additional travel hours.....late!

Fine Flyer....

2009-05-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is a flyer I made for my friend Sam's Dj gig at Otis in SF. I am very proud of how it came out... Click to see full size...

L.A. Here I Come!

2009-05-07T14:46:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving work at noon tomorrow and riding my MC down to Los Angeles for a weekend of hell raising and warm weather. The Giants are playing the now Manny-less Dodgers all weekend and my best Cousin Colin and I are going to brave the ravine to support the Orange and Black on Saturday. There is also a Dirtybird party in Hollywood that night that I would like to check out.
It's a 5-1/2 hour ride from Oakland to LA. I may be able to slice a little time off that by speeding dangerously, but I will need to stop occasionally to stretch and rehydrate so it should even out. If all goes well I should be in LA by 6:00 or 6:30 depending on traffic. I'm a little intimidated by the ride but it's also an exciting prospect. Interstate 5 is fast but unbelievably boring so I'm considering coming back on 101 when I return Sunday. There are some crazy wildfires in Santa Barbara though so I will have to keep up with the latest on that before making my move to come back.
Colin lives in Silver Lake which is supposed to be nice but I'm also looking forward to cruising around Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Santa Monica on our motorcycles just to get a look around the joint. It's supposed to be in the 80's all weekend and that sounds real nice. I am afraid that even though I have lived in SF for almost 13 years, I have not been to SoCal. The last time I was in LA was when I was 15 or 16, or like half of my lifetime ago. I know, that's weird right? Watch out Los Angeles, here comes trouble........=]

Mo Mondays.....

2009-05-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

I bought a Danglet™ for my iPhone a while back, and though I like it and think it's a good product, I haven't used it for months. It's basically an adaptor for the iPhone that allows you to wear it around your neck on a lanyard. I had however managed to show it off to my friend Tad when I was still using it and he thought it might be a good thing to have for his trip to Amsterdam. He has a language translation App, a guidebook, maps, and currency conversions all on his iPhone("there's an app for that"). What a great travel tool if you prepay the data roaming, as Tad has done. Anyway, Tad wasn't able to acquire a Danglet before his flight today, as they are only available online, so I sold him mine. It's been in the bottom of my Timbuk2 for a while now so I figured I should let him take it off my hands.

He picked me up yesterday and we went to Triple Crown for Mo Mondays happy hour. Triple Crown is the new locals club. All of SFs best local DJs and monthly/weekly parties have found a great home at this little club. Back2Back, Bionic, Down Like This, Lights Down Low, David Harness, Halo, J Boogie, etc. etc... The very high ceilings painted black have an underground aesthetic that I like but it's roomy, and classy without being too marina about it. Tad's friend Joel who's DJ moniker is Joe L, was spinning soul n funk 45s when we arrived and he and the boys (DJ Effective, L.I.A. aka legal ill alien-pictured above) held it down as long as I was there with some choice classic and underground hip hop. They serve good tacos and other food as well as daily drink specials, I think I might have to spend a little more time down there and maybe dust off the old hip hop crate/45s every now and then on a Monday......

Pioneer of the Nile...

2009-05-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

I had a great time Saturday at my friend's Chris's Kentucky Derby party, and got totally smashed on mint juleps. Those things are sooooo damn good! Add the slightest bit of sugar to bourbon and it tastes like southern sweet tea.

There was a drawing for $5 a head and I made a great pick: Pioneer of the Nile! If that damn 50-1 "Mine a Bird" hadn't staged the upset of the Derby I would have won like $80 but oh well...so I got the second place prize of $20.

The drawing made the race a lot more exciting and there was lots of hootin and hollering both during the lineup and the actual race. Never really got into the Derby before but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Chris was a wonderful host as usual, he has a very nice flat on Market between Twin Peaks and the Castro. There was tons of beer and mint juleps as I mentioned, as well as authentic Fried Chicken of Kentucky origin (no not KFC, the real deal, I had like 5 pieces), derby pie, and sliders with Kentucky beer cheese. Yum!

I was without my MC for the weekend (I garaged it at work on a very rainy Friday evening) so I was free to get as hammered as possible and I took full advantage. Public transportation treated me very well all weekend and the hangover was minimal.

And that brings me to my last point. How exactly does one "mine a bird"?

When you don't have shit to say....

2009-04-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

Just post a picture of yourself....and come up some with some content later...

Edit: There's a nasty web filter at my job that's stopping me from posting the media that I want to talk about most. I got some stuff to talk about and some great new music to feature but it will have to wait until the cuffs are off my broadband...

Yankees Lower Ticket Prices.....

2009-04-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

According to this article on the Huffington Post, the NY Yankees have finally lowered the prices of their best seats. The empty seats were a real eye-sore during their opening homestand in the new Yankee Stadium. My Dad and Step Mom were not happy with a previous post I made dissing the Yanks for their embarrassing inability to sell out the new yard, but I just have to pour it on. The Yankees are the gold standard baseball club in America, and the previous Yankee Stadium, outside of the history inherrant in that edefice, was a hole. There, I said it. I would rather see a game in China Basin any day then go to the old Yankee Stadium. I have tons of respect for the history, and I was stoked to see a game in "The House That Ruth Built" but I have developed a taste for more contemporary ballparks and couldn't believe how ugly that place was. The new stadium looks great but the Yankees got a little greedy. $1200 for a single seat? OMFG STFU! Great news Yanks fans, those seats are now only $800 or so......LOL!

Timbuk2 Netbook Bag

2009-04-28T16:53:00.001-07:00

Timbuk2 makes a great netbook messenger bag, so I went ahead and bought one ($60) and I'm extremely happy with mine. It's not specifically made for netbooks but the size is perfect and it has little pockets inside for all my peripherals. They charge more ($90) for custom colors and fabrics but I just went with the generic black nylon, hell it goes with everything....
Inside I have my Mini 9 in sleeve, power supply, flash drives and USB hard drive, Canon SD 790, Flip Video Recorder, mini tripod, cables, mini mouse, and iPhone Charger. Not much room left after all that but it's really compact and I could still probably squeeze in another netbook if necessary...

Neoprene Mini 9 Sleeve...

2009-04-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

The new neoprene sleeve for my Mini 9 arrived today from DealExtreme.com. It was a real value at only $5 and I only have a couple of complaints. First, it took almost three weeks to arrive, from Asia I think (Hong Kong actually now that I check). And second, it has a strong odor of chemicals, kinda like super glue or solvent or something but that's no big deal really, as long as it wears off eventually. Looks great, works fine for my needs, and again, it was so cheap....

Brian Wilson Deletes Twitter Account....

2009-04-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

As reported by Barry Zito on Twitter, Brian Wilson has deleted his Twitter.com account as what I believe must be his response to criticism after his first blown save of the year April 26th in Arizona.

Zito wrote last night after the Giants' home win vs. the Dodgers with Wilson striking out the side for the save...

"Hey guys great win for the team.. WIlson [sic] deleted his account as that was the way for him to prove all the media wrong in their assumptions"

This is unfortunate as Wilson was probably the most interesting Twitterer that I have followed. I suppose that this is one of the side effects of Pro Athletes putting themselves out there the way that Wilson did. One blown save and there goes all the levity. I know that I was disappointed about the loss, but it's unfair for fans or the media to use twitter against the guy. He definitely had some questionable things to say but I really enjoyed his tweets and took everything with a grain of salt. I guess that not everyone thought the same way that I did and were attacking him for his content and his single poor performance on the mound. Way to go guys! Just can't let a good thing last can you?
=[

Update:
SF Chronicle Sports Writer Gwen Knapp wrote in her Sporting Green column "Is Zito ready to be Zito?" today:

"When I first saw athletes' Twitter accounts, I wondered how quickly they would feel the need to censor themselves. On Monday evening, Brian Wilson answered the question by shutting down his account. On Saturday night, going into Sunday morning, he had posted something that made it sound as if he had been partying close to 1 a.m., even though the Giants had a day game.

When the closer blew a save opportunity for the first time this season, a reader alerted Chronicle beat writer Henry Schulman to the Twitter item, and he posted a few, carefully non-judgemental paragraphs on his blog. When Schulman got a chance to talk to Wilson, the closer said he had been in his hotel room, ordering room service and tweeting fictionally. Shortly after that he killed the account.

Let's hope he brings it back to life. Wilson's Twitter comments often had an edge to them, especially when he discussed his workout compulsion..."

Yes Brian, please bring the account back to life. My days were a little brighter because of it, and I promise not to snitch to sports writers when you're being compulsive...

Random Thoughts...

2009-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's laundry night, which sucks for me with no machines in the building. I'm making the best of it trying out the Mini 9 at Cup-a-Joe's down the way while my clothes wash in the laundromat. I got a pint of Anchor Steam and a HUGE paninni, and the cafe is all indie rock and art students inside and on the street....sigh...

Randoms: I'm pretty pissed about this article called "Why the Hackbook is a Fail" on TUAW, or The Unofficial Apple Weblog. I really like that blog so the article feels like a stab in the back.

My roommate Ed and I are starting to get back into Grand Theft Auto IV, playing basketball with coworkers on Wednesday, need to get the bike in the shop for oil and new brakes, riding to LA in two weeks to see my cousin Colin and go to a Giants game at Dodger Stadium, ok gotta down this beer, wrap up the paninni, and go put my clothes in the dryer......

A&A Minis Tourny

2009-04-26T16:44:00.001-07:00

We played a progressive, by year, attacker/defender tournament at Kurt's yesterday and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I took 3rd out of 5 so meh on my performance but some games were definitely better than others. I played Axis and I have to admit that the damn British have too many bricks, they're worse than the Russians if you count early war units. Not a single Matilda or Churchill Variant (bottom picture) died in the entire tourny. Those things are near impossible to crack even with 88s and Pak 40s.

Thanks again to Kurt Gish for the hospitality! It was an awesome Saturday and it went by too fast with great gaming all day, fine wine, and gourmet fare. Porkloin and salmon dinner with garlic fries and artichoke hearts, Cheese, snacks and crabcakes, with beef and chicken fajitas for lunch and delicious coffee all day long! It was heavenly. =]

Flames of War • Firestorm

2009-04-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm over in Piedmont in Oakland at my friend Kurt's house for an all day game fest. We're currently playing Flames of War™ Firestorm, which is an eastern front WWII themed board game that is pretty fun. Especially if you're as crazy about 2nd World War themed games as we all are. Later we're going to play an A&A Minis campaign tournament, and I'm really looking forward to that. More updates later...

iPirate 2.0

2009-04-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Got my Second UniqueSkins cover today as you can see. I was in such a hurry to put it on it's got a couple little bubbles and that sucks. Yes I know I'm OCD about the damn thing but well yeah I'm OCD about the damn thing. It'll do, for now...

T.G.I.F. Bitches!!!!!

2009-04-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and it's payday, so I bought bottle of Petron and a twelver of Pacifico. Salud!

Tomorrow is all day gaming at the home of the one Kurt Gish, and Sunday I might do brunch and the Sunset Boat Party! WOOT!

Verny

2009-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

This is Vern buy everybody calls him Verny. He's a brown belt instructor that teaches Tuesday and Thursday night beginner's classes at Rocha BJJ. I really don't like this picture and it doesn't do Vern much justice. I was forced to take it in a hurry after class with my iPhone because I forgot my netbook bag this morning and my camera is in that. I'll get a better one for posterity, I just wish I could take some candids during class while he's teaching but that would probably be annoying for everybody.

Anyway, I've been going twice a week to Jiu Jitsu and I have to say that I really enjoy Vern's class. He's a real upbeat guy and he's friendly, knowledgeable, and Vern is always quick with a joke or a smile. It's a very different feel from Eduardo's classes but I like the variety of great instructors available each week. Jeremy, a purple belt, which is just below brown, often teaches the beginner's class on Friday nights too. All of the instructors have a different style and vibe when teaching but they are all equally passionate about Jiu Jitsu and you can tell they love teaching it to others.

I would like to wish Vern success in his new home that he recently bought in Oakland. I'm looking forward to the housewarming party and assuming in advance that I'm invited. I also assume that he's gonna put down mats in the largest of the four bedrooms, right Verny? I mean, what are you going to use all those bedrooms for anyway? =D

Apple Flavored Kool-Aid...

2009-04-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Now I understand that this might be over the heads of some of my readers but it's important to me that I express my thoughts on the following issue:

My friend and fellow tech geek and Apple Fan-Boy, Jason O'Grady of O'Grady's Powerpage has written some interesting articles on his other blog The Apple Core about the netbook hackintosh phenomenon that I just have to comment on...
Links:
•The $200 "Mac"
•Apple Disses Netbooks Again

1. Business: As Jason has already said, Apple isn't interested in a race to the bottom with junky PC makers. I also don't see them licensing OS X to other manufacturers for a plethora of reasons. So basically there's no way for them to address the motivations for those, who like myself, find themselves desirous of a cheap little hackintosh. Apple charges more for their machines than the competition, they are the luxury car maker of the computer world. Yes, a Ford will get you to the same locations using the same roads as a Mercedes for a whole lot less but I don't need to tell you why the Mercedes is more expensive. It's the form factor and the overall user experience and quality that you are paying for. It's the same for Apple with netbooks as it is with BMW who has no interest in producing a sub-compact economy car. In my opinion what Apple needs to do is make a sweet netbook and forget about competing in terms of price. I for one would love a 10" MacBook Air with a few extra USB ports for less than a grand, depending on the specs, which leads me to my next point...

2. Technological Limitations: The Dell Mini 9 is a niche machine. It has serious limitations that I will try my best to describe here. The processor is a single core 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom, which is seriously underpowered by my standards as a Mac user. I upgraded the RAM to 2 GBs but as far as I can tell 1 GB of RAM seems to be plenty for use in this machine. It has never used more than half of the available RAM, but the processor has bogged more times than I care to tell. It's nice to be able to upgrade the RAM so cheaply but there really isn't much of a point with the limited processing power. There is no way to upgrade the processor, not in the uprade section of the Dell store, nor through after purchase hacks. There's actually two very good reasons for this. The first reason is heat. Dual core and higher Ghz processors run hotter and with a fanless netbook that would be a bad thing. The Mini 9 already gets pretty warm with the low power single core Atom. The second reason is battery power. Dual core and higher Ghz processors use more power and require a fan and those both draw a lot more juice from your battery. That would either severely lower your battery life or add more bulk in terms of the now necessary fan and larger battery, which of course defeats the purpose of a light, quiet, ultra portable machine. So therein lies the rub. If you want it small and quiet with a decent battery life then you have to sacrifice processing power, which with the Mini 9 is the single major limitation. I can deal with the lack of storage but the underpowered processor is the Achilles heel of the platform. So how do you think Apple will approach the problem? How will they solve the intrinsic technological limitations inherent in the netbook format? I'm very interested to find out. Which brings me to my final and most controversial point...

3. Politics: If you read any of the talkbacks from the linked articles above, you will pick up on a few consistent themes. First of all let's just say it how it is...Some people love Apple no matter what, and some people hate Apple no matter what. It really reminds me of knee jerk Democrats and Republicans. Instead of recognizing the value of positions in any particular issue, these sycophants instead blindly toe the brand(party) line ad nauseum. I'm really beginning to dislike those who are firmly, and often rudely, ensconced in their respective camps. That goes for Apple AND PC folks. I find it repugnant the way that PC people rabidly defend the Apple EULA when it comes to hackintoshes, completely out of spite. They accuse my friend, and anyone with a hackintosh, of being a criminal for breaking the EULA despite the fact that in our cases each company was payed in full for their products. The same goes for the Apple Kool-Aid drinkers who can't see the rationale behind hackintoshing and stick their noses up in the air and generally confirm the stereotypes that many Mac detractors just eat up. I personally believe that uncompromising loyalty to any brand or operating system is just stupid and dated. Soon enough it will just be a quaint story that we tell to our grandkids. "Yes Billy, there used to be two kinds of computers, and Mac/PCs were the best!" I think that when Apple switched to Intel architecture the writing was on the wall for everyone to see. Now folks are running multiple operating systems on Macs and shoehorning OS X onto non-Apple hardware. In my opinion it's the beginning of the end of the Apple/PC wars. Just go out there and use what you want and get over yourselves already...

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

2009-04-22T15:03:00.001-07:00

This is Eduardo Rocha, my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu professor. I have been attending classes at the Rocha Jiu Jitsu Academy in Oakland for almost 4 months now and I really enjoy it. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a highly effective martial art for self defense and is also a great competitive sport for all levels of ability. It stresses ground fighting techniques and "submissions" which can be described as chokes and joint locks as apposed to the striking and kicking featured in most fighting styles. I tried practicing BJJ before at another academy a few years back, but it was in SF and therefor was much more expensive. The instruction and facility were also not as good as what I'm experiencing at the Rocha (pronounced "Hocha") BJJ Academy so I feel very happy with the overall value I am receiving. There is an emphasis on fitness which is great for me as I hate gyms and find it hard to get motivated to work out. The beginner's classes are fun and challenging and have been very helpful to me in other ways, like keeping my ego in check, learning humility and patience and all the other beneficial side effects of practicing a martial art. I also get to use some of the skills I learned in high school wrestling which feels good. I pride myself on my takedowns/takedown defense and my ability to maintain control when on offense but I really need to work on my defense in the guard position. Wrestlers tend to have issues feeling comfortable on their back and I'm definitely guilty of that. At the moment I go twice a week, generally Tuesday and Friday nights and I usually leave exhausted and soaked with sweat, which is great.
Eduardo is a third degree Black Belt in BJJ and is an extremely inspirational instructor both in his ability and his conditioning. The guy is a statue. His physique is impressive and his attitude is serious but kind and definitely approachable. He takes his job very seriously and demands a level of intensity that I admire and respect. I find myself responding to the example he sets for us, and I aspire to represent his academy to the best of my ability.

Serato on the Mini 9 • Part 1

2009-04-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

• Research so far suggests that with this system Serato prefers reading Solid State and flash drives but dislikes SD cards and bus-driven hard drives. I'm trying different sources and settings with varying degrees of success. More on this later, testing is ongoing.

• Also, this fanless Mini 9 gets pretty hot when the weather is warm, maybe not a good fit for those in hotter/more humid climes...

Giants of Twitter...

2009-04-21T15:50:00.001-07:00

Both Barry Zito and Brian Wilson of the San Francisco Giants are addicted to Twitter and I'm loving it. They each tweet regularly and enthusiastically but I'm afraid that is where the similarity ends. Barry Zito's tweets tend to be simple and subdued with a philosophical or existential slant. He quotes Carl Jung, or expresses some zen or introspective ideas, whereas Brian Wilson is straight up zany. Wilson tweeted yesterday on the Giants day off that he was at pier 23 if anyone wanted to meet up with him (for drinks I assumed). I missed the tweet by two hours or I might have joined him for a brew myself!* The Giants' closer tweets from the top of the dome. From strange thoughts and non sequiturs to outright bluffs, taunts, and the oddest one liners. Like the one when he challenged all the other MLB teams' closers to a UFC style cage-match fight. He really keeps it interesting.

That's the magic of Twitter. I feel that I have some special insight into the lives of these two athletes, and it is especially novel because they both pitch for my beloved Giants. They answer responses, ask questions of their followers, and generally allow an interactive experience that is impossible to replicate, all in real time. I have also noticed that several Yankees (Nick Swisher & CC Sabathia) are pretty high on the list of Pro Athlete Twitter users on WeFollow.com, which is a great site for finding Twitter content. I don't personally care for the Yanks or their new overpriced empty seated stadium. The Giants sold out at least 2 straight seasons when they opened their new yard. How embarrassing for the Yankees, arguably the flagship club in all of baseball. But I digress.....

I wish more ballplayers used Twitter. It has the potential to change everything. Cutting the middleman (Sports Press) out of the equasion and bringing the players' thoughts and feelings directly to the fans throughout the season, or the whole year round. The net effects of these small social networking advancements are yet to be felt, but the ripples are spreading, and producing outcomes that few would have predicted....

Ps. We need to pay the Padres back for the sweep they dropped on us in SD. Well guess what? You're in out house now! Let's get em'! Go Giants!

*(Can't wait for Twitter Push Notifications on iPhone 3.0!)

iPirate

2009-04-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at the UniqueSkins cover on my Mini 9 for all of one day and I have decided that it looks like crap. The apple is too big. It looks like I'm trying too hard or overcompensating or something and I'm not happy with it. It sucks but I went ahead and ordered a replacement today, there goes my initial investment of $15, but whatever. I'm totally obsessed with my netbook and when it's up to my standards I will feel much better. Above is the image that I decided to go with for the next applique', a cool apple "skull and crossbones" that I am calling "iPirate". It's the same image that I use for my Mini 9's desktop image. I posted my desktop on the Dell Mini 9 forum and I have gotten a lot of praise and responses from people wondering where I got it.

My friend and former co-resident and DJ collaborator Sean Sullivan is stopping by for lunch today on his way through town. We used to promote and play parties in San Francisco for years but he's relocated to Reno/Truckee and we hardly get a chance to hang anymore. Looking forward to catching up and seeing what's new with Sean, he's a very talented DJ, photographer, music producer, rock climber, and all around interesting person that I'm glad to have in the friends column. Everett & Jones? I hope so.

Ps. It's hot again today. It's nice but I'm not ready for summer yet. Can we get a little spring first? Actually it's supposed to rain this weekend so I guess I get my wish....

2009-04-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Got my custom sticker/cover from UniqueSkins.com today and just finished applying it to my Mini 9. The "Apple" image ended up being a little larger than I intended but it's cool, for now. I am just very happy to cover that Dell logo once and for all. Also got a mini mouse with retractable USB cord today to add to my cache of Mini 9 accessories. All I'm waiting for now is the neoprene sleeve I ordered to keep my baby safe...hope it comes soon!

Happy 420!

2009-04-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Happy 4/20! Or Happy 420. Or be happy at 4:20 on 4/20 with some 420.....
It's a very controversial issue in America and throughout the world, but I just have to express my advocacy of this particular intoxicant. It's certainly no worse than alcohol and tobacco, both of which are legal, taxable and arguably much worse for you, without the benefit of medical uses. I don't get home from work until 5:20 but I'll just set the clocks back and pretend......

2009-04-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

I heard on NPR this week that Procol Harum's 1967
Psychedelic melancholy classic "Whiter Shade of Pale"

is the most listened to song in public in England of all

time. That is to say, it has played more times, on more

jukeboxes, in more pubs than any other song in history.

In England. =} Hats off to them, it's a great song...

Dirty Bird Golden Gate Park Party

2009-04-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today Dirty Bird had their first free outdoor party of the year at the pond meadow in Golden Gate Park. It was hot. Real hot for April. My white ass had to stay in the shade for the duration. I have to say that I enjoyed the opening set by Christian Martin the best. He started out with some Dub-Step and Broken Beats and it was melodic and pleasant with great reggae undertones. Just the thing to start it off on a sunny Sunday. Claude Von Stroke and Justin Martin also played well but the sun on the dance floor was way too strong for me to dance very much. None of my tight peeps showed up so it was kind of a solo mission but I found some heads to kick it with and had fun anyway.

Now I'm at my friend Mike's by the beach. We jammed out with his bass and drum set (update: big blisters on my fingers ouch!) and he scoped my mini 9 and decided to buy one. I think I might buy another. Probably an all black Vostro A90 because it's on sale...I know, I know. =]

Hackintoshing...

2009-04-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

The main motivation for starting a blog is my new Dell Mini 9. It's a sweet little machine and I am especially enamored with it because it is running Apple's operating system OS X. It's my hackintosh and I take it everywhere. I'm a total mobile tech addict and this is the best bang for the buck that I have ever experienced. Consider that I spent $600 for an iPhone the week they originally released, and then consider that this apple clone netbook was half that. Runs Photoshop, Word, and Serato, as smooth as can be and its a joy to use. Now I just wish that there was universal free wifi, that would be heaven. Also looking forward to the option to tether the Mini 9 to my iPhone for 3G. Some folks have 3G netbooks already but I don't want to have to deal with getting a separate data plan.

Anywho...I guess what I'm getting at is that this is gonna be fun. =]

I highly recommend the platform, it really is a great value. Very flexible and capable, especially for what I'm using it for. Probably not as your main computer, but a very worthy sidekick to a good desktop (I have a 24" iMac).

2009-04-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday afternoon in SF. The sun is shining but the breeze is getting cooler by the hour. I'm at the house w/ roommate and friends chillin. Played A&A Miniatures most of the day at Gamescape then went and got a haircut at Male Image in the castro. They have turned the corner of Divisidero and Oak near Gamescape into a great coffee shop with the very appropriate name On The Corner. It used to be a very forgettable liquor store so I'm stoked with the change. Went in for coffee and a bagel and it's very inviting with a simple but solid menu and the coffee was tasty.

Giants still can't catch a break. Timmy busted out of his mini slump today for 13 Ks and 8 innings of shutout ball but the Giants still ended up losing 2-0 to the DBacks. =[

ps. This shot is the view looking down Jones St. from where I live in Nob Hill...

Blog Time...

2009-04-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Uploading:

I'm starting a blog to get myself out there and give more access to my life and mind for anyone that might be interested. Friends, family and like minded individuals are welcome to share the ins and out of my life and experiences. I will try to keep it updated and current so folks can keep up with what's new with me. I love my Step-Mom's blog because it really helps to keep me connected with her and my Dad's life in upstate New York. I wish more people I know and love were blogging, it is such an awesome way to put yourself out there for anyone who is interested.

Here we go............

ps. I took this picture with my 2G iPhone...