Lee.org

I have two tickets to Burning Man in my hands. Along with 2 Atomic Fireball suckers. Man it’s hot!

I just gave another donation to Dr. Dave in the fight against comment spam.

—- Didn’t Fix Computers
I tried to fix Deann’s computer tonight and failed. Bean found a fix for her problem on her own. And last night I was unable to fix Sam’s computer. And I thought I had gotten out of the Computer Guy business. Grr.

—- Missed Kite Fight
I was at Bernal Hill for Kite Fight again. Again, there was no one there. It turns out that while Kite Fight happens every 2 weeks, it doesn’t happen on the same day of the week. This time it was on Saturday. Grrr.

—- Missed Lunch
I got to Boogaloo’s at 3 for a late lunch. I walked in and they told me they were closed. Grrrr.

—- Found Pointless Stores
I wandered into several stores on Mission looking for nothing in particular… for stuff on my long list of “it’s be nice if I had”‘s. police tape, tupperware, a thing to tell when I should stop my car in my small garage so I don’t hit the wall, a small dish rack for the office, whole peppercorns… crap. I found none of what I was looking for. I was most pissed off when I saw they had a giant selection of tupper-like products and none of them were well made. Grrrrr.

—- Almost Got in a Fight Over a 12 Yr Old Litterbug
I was standing in front of one of those pointless stores and watched as a twelve year-old girl took the batteries out of her CD Walkman one by and and chucked them across the sidewalk. They skittered across the concrete and then just lay there. I considered saying nothing. I didn’t. “What are you doing?” And with the kind of derision an older sister would offer a younger brother, she said, “The batteries are dead. ” “Use the garbage can. Are you stupid?” She shrugged and walked into the pointless store.

I looked around to evaluate the situation and a man standing near me gave me an appreciative smile. I could see through the window that the girl was standing next to someone older that looked related. I walked in and told the man, “You should suggest to her to use the garbage can. There’s one right [pointing to the can that she almost hit with her errant batteries] there. I stood for a moment and then left.

A few moments later, as I was walking down the sidewalk, I heard some yelling behind me. I turned to see the father. With more than a hint of anger in his voice, he said, “Did you call her stupid?” In a neutral voice, I said, “Yes.” His ire catching up with him, he said, “If I punched you in the face right now, would that be stupid?” As I had already started planning tactics and what I’d say in the police report, I wanted to say ‘yes’. But that wouldn’t have given the girl the right impression about littering. So I carefully thought about a defusing thing to say. “I couldn’t say,” is what came out. Apparently, it was the right thing to say. He was caught off guard and blinked. “Well, you should apologize for saying that.” I nodded and said, in a more earnest tone than before, “I apologize.” Placated, he came back with some mutter of, “Ok,” turned and went back to the pointless store.

I think I got the littering message across but it took way more effort than I was planning! Grrrrrr.

—- Missed the Library
I walked into the library at 4:58, just in time for them to tell me they were closing. Grrrrrrr.

—- Laura was good to me
Laura helped me unwind with some visualization on the phone. :-)

—- Saw a fun movie & Got a Part in a Play
I went to Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room. They showed The Astounding She-Monster. As the title promises, it was astoundingly bad and we had a great time laughing at it.

Most extrordinarily, I was chatting with some folks after the film. I was plugging Emporer Norton to this one group so much that they wanted to see it and were asking if it was still playing. After the new Nortonians left, I was rewarded with a wet nap by one of the Dark Room guys. Overjoyed, I did the old, “read the back of the wet nap dramatically” bit. Turns out, I was talking with the producer of some upcoming Dark Room shows and they liked my delivery so much, I may just get a bit part in an upcoming show. Wee!

Bought a “Calder” bed from Room and Board.

Bought “Benton” shelves from Pier One.

Both will arrive within the next two weeks.

The hike was cancelled due to rain :-( but I drove all the way there anyway. The fog and steep hills and rain and twisty roads and winds were intense. I decided not to try hiking myself after I walked 50 feet from my car, turned around and couldn’t see the car or any distinguishing features of the landscape. Intense.

Got a running shirt and stuff to waterproof my jacket at REI. (a shirt that is fairly warm, light, breathable and does that moisture wicking thing)

Helped Dorty with her computer today.

Helped Samantha with her secret project yesterday.

Friday, I broke the new Feed Automator at work (that’s a good thing when you’re QA :-)

I got a mattress. I slept well last night. The Swedes are helping feel a bit more at home with their Sultan Hasselbäck. And thanks to Linden for helping me get the bed home… again! He helped get the first, failed bed home as well.

Next up, a bed frame that costs almost 3 times what the mattress costs.

But I’m returning the $1,500 rug. I just can’t conscience walking on something that expensive in this place. I’ll buy a vacation in the desert or something with the money saved.

Tonight I met crism, who I had been introduced to by Charlotte, who I had been introduced to by Fiz and Jeremy. He held a whiskey tasting party. Twas a good time! There was whiskey and bread pudding with whiskey and salad with whiskey flavored dressing ;-). The bread pudding was actually excellent!

I gave Sean (who had just tried out for Jeopardy in LA and sadly just missed his shot) a ride home and met a bunch of nice folks. Crism even plays Cosmic Encounter. I’m going to have to ping him on that!

Wee!

Bed time now.

Running/urban hiking in the morning. I’m going on a hike in Sonoma County Sunday and want to be as ready as I can. This is my last chance. I might try to tackle Twin Peaks. I’ve already gotten my running times in the last 3 weeks down from a hopeless 18 minute mile to a pitiful 11 minute mile.

Then testing the latest server-side feature of TVTonic, sucking blogs into our distribution system (with permission, of course). And trying to do some good marketing for TVTonic. I’m liking the marketing stuff.

I may be soon buying weights to excercise at home. But then my apartment might get stinky sweaty and my downstairs neighbor might think the sky is falling…

I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. Running has taken off a few pounds and Laura even said my arm muscles felt tighter (flattery is the devil’s food cake (-; . I’ve been eating/drinking lots of veggies with the Veg-o-mat^H^H^H^H Magic Bullet that Carmen gave me (in response for me giving her a Magic Bullet).

There is even a good chance that I’m getting a bed tomorrow!

Pony Trouble is a very werid movie from my good, werid friend Warren. You should watch this movie while on drugs.

See the new Pony Trouble trailer

Last night I saw Emperor Norton: A New Musical at The Dark Room with Laura. I thought it was going to be fun by wacky. I was so wrong. The show was terrific! The musical numbers were very well composed and excecuted, the storyline was fairly tight (and mostly historically accurate, we are told!) the talent was top notch, the message was upbeat and very well delivered, and our seats were excellent!

It really was a most enjoyable show!

For this, I resolve to go to more shows at The Dark Room, especially shows producted by this team. I hear The Gong Show will be a fun thang.

I went with Laura to the Fancy Food Show with Laura today. What a great time. And yum! It’s all about the samples. I think I might end up buying a few pallets of yummy things. Oh wait, I’m not in the industry.

I was most impressed with:
Bongo Microwavable donuts – It’s got Krispy Kreme appeal, from your freezer! They’ll be in Costco shortly.

Walnut spread..butter – From this Italian company who has no distribution in the US :-(

Peanut Better – They had some powerful savories there. Though the Spicy Southwestern 0wnerized my palate for 10 minutes.

Delallo antipasto – great selection, great taste (doesn’t that sound like an ad for them)

New Tree Gourmet Belgian Chocolate – 73% chocolate bars that weren’t bitter at all. They also had these 99% chocolate covered somethings that kicked savory ass.

Pizza Romana from North La Brea Ave, LA, CA had pretty awsome pizzas. I think they just sell “frozen imported par baked wood fired pizza crusts”.

Mark & Stephen’s Handcrafted jams & mustards – Wasabi Lime Mustard, Hot & Sweet Mustard, Course Grain Mustard with Garlic and White Wine… lemon marmalade that wasn’t bitter. All very good.

Western Specialty – has all manner of containers in glass, metal and plastic

Remember the movie Chocolat? Chuao Spicy Maya Hot Chocolate is a good candidate for that ultimate hot chocolate drink. I’m getting some.

Labels West makes labels of all types

Macarob has a very interesting carob syrup and powder from Australia.

Highland Sugarworks is a Vermont producer of maple syrup (think “American Grade B”!) and they have a northern California distributor called Renaissance Speciality Foods in SF. I’m gettin me some.

We saw Yan (who Can Cook) and Chef Paul Prudhomme hanging out and then Yan cooking and joking.

From here (which also includes the music) from my sister.