A Whole Lotta Nothing

"You've got to see Market

"You've got to see Market Street on Halloween! You've got to see Market Street on Halloween!"

Nick said everyone had told him this. While we walked around Union Square with Matt, looking for a place to eat, we didn't understand why someone would say something like that. From what we could see near 4th and 5th, Market was its usual self.

After eating, I returned to work, grabbed my bike, and started home. By the time I hit 9th street on Market, traffic was at a standstill, music was loud and everywhere, and the sidewalks were choking with Wonder Womans, drag queens, ghosts, and disco studs. Riding in the narrow spaces between cars, street after street, I eventually made it to the reason for the incredible traffic backup: thousands of people, covered in makeup, sparkles, and fur, dancing in the street, which was completely closed to traffic. It was quite a sight, seeing people shoulder to shoulder across market street emanating an energy you could feel.

"You've got to see Market Street on Halloween! You've got to see Market Street on Halloween!"

Now I know what that person meant.

If I wasn't so busy

If I wasn't so busy today, I could have been a star. Well, an informercial star. Someone called me yesterday, asking if I'd give a testimonial for TiVo in their informercial today. I love TiVo to death, but I have no time this week. Did anyone else get a call like this?

This WeatherBug taskbar program is

This WeatherBug taskbar program is the killer app if you ride your bike or walk to work. It gives you the outside temps at work and home, radar, forecasts, and outdoor web cam shots. I work in a windowless basement, so I never have a clue what the weather is like outside, so it's nice to know before I get suited up to leave.

So today, we're in the

So today, we're in the Wall Street Journal, in a short piece about weblogs, but I can't find a copy of the newspaper anywhere near work. Every convenience store says they don't sell newspapers. It's classic Murphy's Law though, you see newspapers everywhere, until the day you're actually seeking a specific one, and you never find it.

This is the most

This is the most insane thing I've ever seen. Watch this quicktime movie to believe it.

Every time I take a

Every time I take a cab in San Francisco, I get the same weird feeling. Sitting in the back seat, being a bit disconnected, watching the world go by at a very high rate of speed, you get this feeling that life has been replaced by a video game. It's as if nothing is real, changing lanes 12 times while running red lights, dodging slow traffic and pedestrians, you can almost feel the tug of the unknown person working the game controller in this false world. You show up to your destination in half the time you yourself could drive it, and the un-real feeling continues.
On the bright side, you get a genuine E-ticket ride for 1/10th the cost of going to Disneyland.

Millencolin's Pennybridge Pioneers is everything

Millencolin's Pennybridge Pioneers is everything I used to love about Pennywise. It's bouncy, angsty, punky stuff that I can't stop listening to. It's been two weeks since I got the CD, and I still listen to it daily (it's in the random rotation).

I don't believe in a

I don't believe in a heaven or hell, but I sincerely hope there is a place for guys in Range Rovers, who pass other people on the left to make a right turn at 25 mph while talking into a cell phone and nearly hit me in the crosswalk even though I have a walk signal, to rot for all eternity. There's a probably also a place for people that use terrible grammar and string 12 prepositions together in a single aside, and that's where I'll spend eternity, rotting away.

I know IKEA has been

I know IKEA has been planning a new e-commerce site for a long time, but do they have to have such a crippled site for current US visitors? I wanted to check some things in their catalog before possibly driving to the bay area store, but they only allow you to order a catalog by mail. That doesn't really help when you're impulse buying like I tend to do (and most other geeks I know).

I remember hearing they completed their swedish store, and after clicking through several swedish menus (that I guessed at until I got what I wanted to find), I found a tv stand I wanted.

I know it's a lot of work to setup a catalog database along with customer data and payment systems, but why not offer just the contents of the catalog to US customers? Tell customers they can look at anything, but only buy in-person at a store, and later on, add the e-commerce components to let people order. Seems like it could only help sales, and get people used to their store and inventory.

This is just a reminder

This is just a reminder to myself to read Douglas Coupland's short story, Lotto

I'm still in utter disbelief

I'm still in utter disbelief that anyone would trust a guy to run the country that says stuff like this. Just unbelievable. Maybe I'm crazy to think that people in power should be intelligent enough to conduct interviews and answer questions properly. I'd hate to see what one of these gaffes during a foreign policy meeting would do. Bush makes Quayle look like Einstein. (via backupbrain)

While digging around this server,

While digging around this server, I came across a few old Metababy hacks. For those of you that don't know, Metababy was a site that let anyone edit by either emailing in HTML code, or later on, copy and pasting it into an edit box. Whatever was last added to Metababy, became the default page at metababy.com.

I made this joke Flash page (way before bashing flash was cool :) on November 17, 1998, when Metababy first launched. A day later, I created this rant about annoying people at the movies (laser pointers were all the rage back in 1998). I have no idea why I created this one of Lance's head (November 20, 1998), but it was based on the old, old, old glassdog splash page. Here's another one from November 1998. When Metababy version 2 launched, it included an "Edit" button instead of the old email-in way of doing things, which reminded me of a certain application, and that prompted this one (I went a bit far on the Dave imitation). I can't wait to see what version 3 of Metababy looks like.

I don't usually point out

I don't usually point out Adcritic spots, but this is a very funny commercial.

The message here is: it

The message here is: it sucks to be a pedestrian in San Francisco

I like my TiVo so

I like my TiVo so much that if I could, I actually would marry it.

Spammers are the most generous

Spammers are the most generous people in the world. They've found many new and innovative ways to become filthy rich with very little work, but they don't keep it to themselves. No, rather than become billionaire tycoons, they open their hearts to the unwashed masses and offer their amazing fast track to financial independence.

I don't think I could be so noble. If I could work at home 4 hours a week and make $100,000 a month, I doubt I'd tell anyone. Heck, I'd keep it up for months on end, until I'd never have to work again. And still, still I probably wouldn't reveal my secrets to anyone.

But not spammers. These wonderful souls (for a nominal fee, of course) let you in on how to make your life great. I hope a spammer one day goes up for sainthood, because man, they deserve it.

This post is a

This post is a test, only a test. If it were a real post, it'd have something of interest worth reading. If you're viewing this in IE 5.5, it may look a little different, but again, it's merely a test. Blame these guys and tremendo.

While checking out a bulletin

While checking out a bulletin board site today, I noticed they were using SpellChecker.net for dictionary, grammar, and thesaurus functions within posts. I hadn't seen the spellchecker.net site or service in months and was very impressed. After about 20 minutes of downloading and tinkering, I got it running at MetaFilter, and I can't believe how useful and slick it is.

Every time I grab some

Every time I grab some change for something, I have to do a double-take. Is that a Canadian dollar? Is that some sort of South American coinage? Did someone fool me into taking European money at lunch?

No, it's just those new quarters.

The good old eagle is replaced by horses, mountains, and trees, and somehow I think it's just diluting the "brand" that the quarter posses. It never changes, it's never supposed to change. It used to be that getting change was predictable, but now I have a pocket full of chaos.

Stop the madness, US Mint. I'm hereby boycotting entropy, and hoping they bring back the old quarters.

Ever since Mystery Science Theater

Ever since Mystery Science Theater 3000 started playing on the Sci-Fi network on Saturday mornings (ack! from 6am-8am), I've never caught the show. I haven't seen it since it was taken off Comedy Central ages ago, actually. But today I got to finally see it again, thanks to my new TiVo.

I noticed that in the two days I've had TiVo running, I've watched more TV than I normally watch in a month. But it was good stuff (Simpsons, Northern Exposure, various extreme sports shows, mst3k), so it's not too bad. I really hope the suggestions feature gets better though. Since I gave the simpsons three thumbs up, the unit records anything remotely resembling comedy. I have no idea why can't it tell the difference between the smart humor of the simpsons, and the utter stupidity of Chevy Chase movies (Vegas Vacation?! No thanks, TiVo), and the three stooges (I've never watched the three stooges for more than 30 seconds), but I'm sure it takes time.

Odd moment from the other

Odd moment from the other day: I'm sitting at the movies, waiting for it to start, and some guys behind us start talking about voteauction.com, a site that lets you "sell" your vote in the upcoming election. I'd never heard of it, and was anxious to check it out when I got home. So after checking it out, my next thought was "put it on MetaFilter" and just to be safe, I searched for the URL in the archives. It turns out that two weeks ago two people already covered it. You know a site covers too much ground when you can't keep up with it, but when it's a site you built, that's something else entirely different.

The most outrageous thing in

The most outrageous thing in the last presidential debate was hearing both candidates agree that the death penalty deters crime. The Institute for Public Accuracy disagrees (via sfblog).

While watching BattleBots last night,

While watching BattleBots last night, I couldn't help but recall the intense (though much smaller scale) robot wars that MIT, UCLA, Caltech and Japanese engineering colleges used to compete in back in the 80's. From what little I remember, their machines were a lot smaller, but seemed technologically superior. I also recall American colleges almost always losing. These current battlebots pale in comparison, it's really a dumbed down version of the uber nerd competitions of yesteryear.

I also saw Best in Show last night, and it was almost like a Waiting for Guffman 2 (which is actually a good thing). Very funny stuff.

Heh. I've seen these posters

Heh. I've seen these posters around town a bit. It looks like the work of the Andre the Giant poster guy.

If you're looking for information

If you're looking for information on the upcoming Web2000 show, web2000.com is sooooo not the right URL. Turns out it's web2000show.com

I just read my voter

I just read my voter information packet for my district in San Francisco, and I came across a few interesting items. The live/work loft problems Meg talked about seem like they could go away if prop L passes. Golden Gate park will close on Saturday if prop F passes (I'm a big fan of this). But the most important information I found was that voting times in SF are a lot more flexible than I thought. See, I've always wished that election day was on a weekend, or that voting could be done over a greater length of time than a single 10-12 hour day. It turns out that as of last week, you can vote at city hall M-F, 8am-5pm until election day as well as weekends 9am-3pm. Why isn't this more widely publicized?

Participant/Observer

A thought just ran though my head that I felt like writing down. Driving home from this past wedding weekend, I was thinking hard about memories vs. "living in the now." I thought about the difference between documenting something and participating in it. I think about this whenever I feel like I'm doing too much of one thing and not the other. At the last SXSW, in one 24 hour period I took something like 70 or 80 photos of people. Instead of meeting and talking with them I was documenting them, and I didn't feel at all like a participant. Though, throughout the wedding weekend, I was all participant, rarely stepping outside the participant role to document what was going on. I took almost no photos, and didn't blog or write a single thing (didn't touch a computer until the last day and it was just to check email and to make sure metafilter was still working). I tried not to chronicle the event, and instead live it up and enjoy it. I figured others would do it for me (like the photographer). But looking back, and having little physical record of the event right now (photos are still being developed), it's almost like it didn't happen. It was all a blur, and I think I realized why I like photography so much. Keepsakes and physical reminders of memories are more important to me than I thought. Also, I realized most of the photos we'll get back will be staged, posed images meant to highlight how young and perfect we were that day. My memories aren't always like that, and I love seeing candid, natural shots from an event instead. I guess this is a roundabout way of saying I wish I took more photos last weekend, to help me remember how absolutely beatiful Kay was, and how wonderful all my friends and family were at the event. Years from now, it's going to be hard to remember much beyond what the photos we have show us. What brought all this on in the first place? I read Zeldman's piece about his mom, and memory ties into it a bit. It also moved me to tears, and got me thinking about the importance of people, and memories of those people in my life.

I was thinking about memories

I was thinking about memories this evening, and wrote a bit about it here.

(meta note: I'm using the new single post archives for these long pieces. If you look at the archives, they are arranged by subject, and have permanent URLs attached with each. Just one of the many new features on the way for Blogger.)

To: hr@bazzaar.com Subject: VisitorID

To: hr@bazzaar.com
Subject: VisitorID - New Promotion Tool

[a bunch of spam stuff about getting web site visitors' email addresses]

If you do nothing else

If you do nothing else today, at the very least send a message to your representitives supporting low power radio. The big guys don't want it around, because it gives anyone the power to start a small radio station. We own the airwaves, it's about time we finally get a chance to use them.

Regarding what Derek wrote about

Regarding what Derek wrote about life being better after you're online, I noticed while unwrapping today's arriving wedding gifts that four online friends each sent me something. Four people I didn't know before I had this site and the other one. Four people I knew of, but did not know at all a year ago. Actually, while 2 of those are good face-to-face friends now, one other I only speak to online, and the other one I've never even met.

Ignore the crappy weblog article that prompted Derek's post, but pay attention to his words, as they are good ones.

What do Thelonius Monk, Ed

What do Thelonius Monk, Ed Wood, David Lee Roth, Ben Vereen, and Brett Favre have in common with me? It's our birthday.

Twenty eight is old. "Almost 30" is how I'll have to start referring to myself now. Ugh.

Having never worn any sort

Having never worn any sort of jewelry before, I can't get over the feeling that my finger is being constantly pinched, ever so slightly. But of course, it's one of those good pains.

Oh yeah, we're back and feeling good.

Jason Meggs is Rosa Parks

Jason Meggs is Rosa Parks on two wheels. To protest the SB1629 veto, he a few friends tried to bike the bay bridge, resulting in multiple arrests. More on this.

Note: I probably won't be

Note: I probably won't be posting here for the next week or so, as I'm all wrapped up in that big life event, over there (I'll be offline, so I won't be posting there either).

Most popular questions asked of me in the past few weeks:

Nervous?
Up until today, no. But now I'm worried about everything going well.

Having fun?
As much fun as one can have around an event like this. It's mostly a stress-fest for everyone involved, instead of a celebration of love and honor. But that's the way these things go these days.

Any tips for future couples?
Elope in Europe. Or Tahiti. Or Australia. The key word is elope.

(I'm joking)

Quote of the day, via

Quote of the day, via donkeymon's MetaFilter comment:

"Those who would trade their precious freedoms for a little bit of safety are deserving of neither freedom nor safety.
-- Ben Franklin"