03.24.08
Posted in Fun Stuff, Personal News, Photography, Random, San Francisco, SF Events, Trips at 7:57 pm by divinity
Prompted by 6 months of lack of updates on MySpace, I put together a quick “What’s happened in the last 6 months” post. I noticed later that I had already done a few of those months on this site. Oh well, consider this partially a rerun. 🙂
Here are the last 6 months of my life in list format:
October 2007
– Arse Elektronika – How many times in your life can you say you got to see a tongue chainsaw in use?
– LTJ Bukem at Temple (omg) – Incredibly good show that had me dancing even after the rest of the crew left, leaving me alone and smiling.
– Heather’s radioactive treatment for the remainders of the thyroid cancer. She did not gain any new super powers, but everything went well.
– Modeselektor (omg) – tiny little show that was unbelievably good. Dancing until we were dripping with sweat and couldn’t dance any more.
– UNKLE (meh) – finally saw UNKLE live and was unfortunately disappointed.
– Launched www.sklxthemes.com – After months of rewriting the code base I used for sk3themes.com, I launched my first site (www.sklxthemes.com) using the templatized code. Currently the site hovers between 8-9,000 visitors a day. My code stands strong so far! My bandwidth bills ended up shooting through the roof though, but luckily ad revenue still covers it.
November 2007
– Kai’s birthday in Monterey – Went down to Monterey with a group of friends to run around the Monterey aquarium in honor of Kai’s birthday
– Launched www.skslidethemes.com – Second site using my new code! Not as popular since the Slide had a lower adoption rate, but still not bad.
– Said goodbye to Gabby.
– Double date with Mella/Nicole that sparked a Top Gun obsession
– Thanksgiving with Heather’s family
– Mike Doughty – I finally got to see Mike Doughty, the man behind Soul Coughing who’s music I love.
December 2007
– Saw Bladerunner on the big screen – The final cut was released into theaters and we somehow managed to organize 20+? people to get to the theater and see it all together.
– San Jose art trip – Running around San Jose checking out art.
– Early Christmas in NC with my family – Heather and I flew out to NC to stay with my mom and celebrate Christmas early with them. I got to show her around my old high school stomping grounds and she got to meet everyone.
– Heather and I celebrated our anniversary at the top of the Mandarin Oriental – An expensive night, but a gorgeous view with a gorgeous woman that made it worth every bit!
January 2008
– New Years celebration in Joshua Tree – Spent the New Years weekend in Joshua Tree, camping in the backcountry. Millions of Joshua Trees, climbing mountains, freezing, fitting everyone into one tent, and lots of fun.
– Went and ‘heard’ Audium
– Rewatched The Wizard with friends. I love the power glove, it’s so bad.
– Trampolines and Sushi for my birthday (Wow, I actually made it past 27! Now what?)
– Work on 2pir started back up
– Heather and I moved in together into an awesome 2 bedroom right down the street from my old place and across the street from Rubin!
February 2008
– Day trip to LA for work – I love working in the Video Games industry.
– Nicole’s crazy Lego party – So many legos. I didn’t know anyone ever owned that many legos. We managed to put together a couple of sets, but spent most of the time organizing. Rubin made a cool time-lapse video of the afternoon.
– Annual Valentine’s Day Pillow fight in SF – Fun as always
– Snowboarding trip to Yosemite – Spent the weekend with one of Heather’s friends in her cabin in Yosemite. Finally got a chance to go snowboarding after so many years and found out that I still could do it. Next year, more snowboarding trips!
March 2008
– Danger Weekend – shooting semi-automatic weapons and skydiving. I got a chance to shoot an original issue AR-15 and loved it. It’s weird, I never thought I’d be interested in guns.. No interest in shooting anything other than targets though. We also went skydiving the next day. My second jump and it was a lot of fun.
– Bunki got sick (hepatic lipidosis) and had a feeding tube put in! 🙁 We’re not sure why she stopped eating, but she lost 40% of her body weight and her liver wasn’t functioning right. She seems to be on the mend and is eating by herself now. She hates the e-collar though.
– The new and improved Interpretive Arson webpage got built and launched!
– Pi Day (3/14) party at Peter’s – Last minute celebration of Pi day
– Sara’s Arcade Birthday party – A bunch of 20-30 year olds running around an arcade. What’s not to love? Tons of skee ball and crane games.
– (Pre)Easter dinner with Heather’s parents
Whew… Lots of stuff, I’m sure I forgot something or other, but that should be good for now.
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02.10.08
Posted in Fire, Geek, Personal News, Trips at 11:50 pm by divinity
I just noticed that I hadn’t posted on here since November and figured maybe it was time for a little update. I’ve been busy, like everyone else in our circle of friends it seems. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s been going on:
December:
Got an XO Laptop
Trip to North Carolina for an early Christmas
Our 1 year anniversary
Christmas in Monterey
(photos not found)
New Years in Joshua Tree (including an exciting tire blow-out)
January:
My 28th birthday
Macworld
I caved and bought a Macbook Pro
(no pictures taken for possible future deniability)
Experienced Audium
Moved into a new place
Work started back up on 2pir
In more generic news…
The job is going well, the website empire is doing very well, and things are good all around.
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08.05.07
Posted in Personal News, Trips at 6:17 am by divinity
Friday, August 3rd
– I miss my cats
– Topless photos are apparently normal for German newspapers
– T-shirts that are US centric are not uncommon over here
It’s weird walking into the condo, half expecting Bunki to be waiting just inside the door for me. It’s taking some getting used to. I’m lonely but more adventurous and interested in getting out and doing something. Spent a good portion of the day thinking about what I should do for the weekend.
The morning was a bit of a surprise when I noticed a German guy in the cafe/gas station reading a newspaper with a large picture of an attractive topless woman. I had noticed previously that they kept the Penthouse and Playboy mags out in the open, but I had no idea that European newspapers were as uncensored. Refreshing to see that other governments aren’t as ridiculous as ours when it comes to things like this.
Even though hardly anyone speaks English around here, they definitely have some US inspired fashion. On Friday I saw two different t-shirts, one with the state of Kentucky, another one for Oklahoma. And of course there’s all the brand names, Nike, Reebok, etc. I also saw a shirt on a guy that said “I want ur sex” (no joke). I’m curious as to where the European fashion is, as most people here dress pretty similar to the states.
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Posted in Personal News, Trips at 5:50 am by divinity
Thursday, August 2nd
– Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have an American to talk to
– There doesn’t seem to be anyone under 40 or over 18 here. This is apparently where you go to vacation if you’re old or have kids.
Thursday was a rough day for me. The jet lag was causing me to be grumpy and depressed. Combined with the overwhelming of both work and social interaction in a different language, I was in a not so good mood. Add on to that my poor diet as I couldn’t read most menus and didn’t know what may or may not have dairy in it and I was just miserable. I spent a lot of time just walking up and down the street in front of the beach, wandering past restaurants and people giving me odd looks.
From what I’ve seen, body piercing isn’t too uncommon, however nobody has stretched ears. I’m sure my tunnels are interesting to a few people, and I’ve caught quite a few kids staring. Or maybe it’s my mix of bleached and black hair that gets them. Who knows. One thing that I have noticed is that the mullet is in style over here. I kid you not. There are tons of high school/college age boys running around with mullets, even going so far as to shave the sides to further accentuate this stylish choice in hair. Granted the back is short, but it’s still a mullet. I’ve also spotted a few rat-tails. It’s hard not to stare.
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Posted in Personal News, Trips at 5:37 am by divinity
El Campello Sunrise
more pictures from August 1st
I woke up incredibly early (7am) and decided to spin some rope dart on the roof deck of my condo while watching the sun rise over El Campello. It was incredibly quiet, as the Spanish apparently are not morning people. After some spinning and some photo taking, I got dressed and ventured down the road for some food. There’s a gas station down the road from me that has a little cafe where they back bread and whatnot. Not having exchanged my US dollars for Euros, I attempted to purchase an orange juice via credit card and was promptly denied. Through the use of a few words and motions, I asked the woman behind the counter where the nearest atm was. She pointed down the road and rattled something off in Spanish, I assume it was something like “there’s a bank 4 blocks that way”. I nodded, understanding only the direction she was pointing and started walking. 15 minutes later, after asking another person via motions and single spanish words, I found the ATM. Money in hand, I ventured back to the gas station for coffee and pastries, slightly more confident.
After breakfast I headed to the office, getting in around 9:30 to find very few people there. Everyone is an afternoon person like me, so I figured things were going to be nice once my internal clock configured itself. A long day at work learning all sorts of new things left me exhausted at the end of the day. I went straight home to the condo and fell asleep, skipping dinner entirely.
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Posted in Personal News, Trips at 5:15 am by divinity
It’s Sunday, which marks my 6th day in Spain. It’s been an up and down week, but took a turn for good yesterday. I’ve been jotting down notes and observations on my sidekick (which has no service but functions as a good English-Spanish dictionary, clock, and notepad). I’m going to post each of these individually. Here’s my first day:
Tuesday, July 31st – First day in Spain
– arrived at the airport, everything is in Spanish, mild panic
– Ok, there are a few things in English here and there, including the driver’s sign for me, *sigh of relief*
– The country here feels a lot like southern California/Utah
– Lots of old completely abandoned buildings on the side of the road, crumbling and tagged with graffiti
– August is officially my “desert” month
– There is porn on the television. Not softcore, but hardcore porn. Three movies tiled on the screen. Channel 17.
Tuesday was a weird day. I was incredibly tired from all the travel and the 9hour jump ahead in time. Totally unprepared for attempting to steer my way through a society that didn’t speak English, I was happy to be dropped off at the office and have some people to talk to. A handful of people in the office speak fluent English and several others speak enough to get by. I got copies of keys to the condo, next door to the office, and after about 2hrs at work decided my brain was worthless and I needed sleep. I went up to the top-floor condo (2 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, with roofdeck!) and totally passed out around 4:30pm and woke up at 1:30am. Watched some television I had brought on my laptop, then back to bed at 4am, only to wake up at 7am.
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04.20.07
Posted in Personal News, Photography, San Francisco, SF Events, Trips at 1:22 am by divinity
Last Saturday was Bicycle Day. A great day had by all and a near-death experience for me and my very old bike tires. Pictures are here and favorites are below. A HUGE thank you to Ian and Nicole for organizing this, and an extra thanks to Ian for fixing up my bike both before the trip and during. The company was great, Marin county was beautiful, and the ferry ride back into San Francisco reminded me of how beautiful of a city I live in and how lucky I am to have the friends that I do. Here’s our route (thanks to Heather for mapping it out), and a quick rundown of the events:
– Waking up at 9am after getting home from Yuri’s Night at 6am to find that it is raining. We somehow get out of bed and catch the ferry on time.
– Last minute supplies at a bike store in Sausalito
– Bay Model
– Getting lost in suburbia. “I know everything about biking around here except for this exact one spot you are in.”
– Greenbrae Boardwalk (unfortunately noone took photos, but these will give you an idea of how unique of a place it is)
– Waiting for the ferry and watching the clouds grow in the distance over Katamari-esque hills
– A beautiful ferry ride south through the Bay into San Francisco
– A long BART ride back to the Fort where good food was made, fire was spun, and people hung out for hours
From my camera:
from raindrift’s:
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03.22.07
Posted in Personal News, Photography, Trips at 8:18 pm by divinity
I must be slacking! Just a few things I’ve been meaning to post:
Friday – sucked, I hope noone gets what I had. It ranked just under food poisoning on my list of illness. Luckily it lasted 24 basically. Thanks to everyone who sent their get wells, and especially the parents for the medical advice. 🙂
Saturday – Surprisingly I felt much better and Heather and I headed to Monterey
Sunday – Otter Madness at the Monterey Aquarium, some enjoyable tidepooling, and dinner with Heather’s parents.
Work this week brings me down to Santa Clara for some day-long meetings, so I’m hanging out in a swanky hotel room all to myself rather than having to make the drive back and forth 3 times. While the room is extra nice, I do miss Heather and the cats being around. Not sure what the weekend brings, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.
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