I've always suspected that the graphics department girls despise the reporters here, but now I finally know for sure: the one I really hate just asked who makes the Xbox, obviously having not bothered to read even one of several stories I've done on the subject. When my editor told her, the other graphics girl said "Really?"

I hate that department.

In case you were wondering, snakes do pee and poop.

Don't believe me? Ask Earl

It's so nice sitting around doing nothing...

I couldn't find a cheap flight out, so I'll fly back to San Jose tomorrow. What sucks is that I don't have any firm New Year's plans. It looks like I may go to Santa Cruz with Murray and his wife, but a friend from Orange County may be in town, and I'm sure she'll want to go to San Francisco.

After briefly debating whether to drive to Phoenix (in light of certain shoe-related events), I will go ahead and fly. But you can be sure I'll be sniffing the air for signs of sulfur.

Just one more gift to buy...

I know, I know. It's been awhile since I last updated. I've been really, really busy with end-of-year/Christmas madness, scrambling to get everything taken care of in terms of shopping, work, etc/ before I take off to Phoenix.

Nvidia finally released drivers for my 3D gaming glasses, but unfortunately, Tribes 2 is one of the games that doesn't work well with them. Sigh. But the 3-D versions of Quake 3 and Castle Wolfenstien are pretty cool.

Another cool thing I have to mention: for those of you who use multiple instant-messaging systems, Trillian is an excellent instant-messaging client that aggregates your Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and MSN accounts into a single application. No more having to run multiple programs just to keep in touch. You won't be able to use the most advanced features of your favorite instant-message systems, but Trillian does a superb job of handling the basics of sending and receiving messages -- and that's really the point, isn't it? One minor detail: my Yahoo"Web presence" indicator (the smiley-face under the "contact me" section of this site) makes it appear as if I'm offline, even when I'm not.

That's right, folks, the Newshounds (the Business Journal softball team) have actually won a game. It was a beautiful come-from-behind victory that left the other team so stunned and defeated that one player on the opposing team (Washington Mutual) threw her glove on the ground.

It was a great game, perhaps better than this year's World Series.

Okay, maybe not...

WE WON!!! WE WON!!

Details to come...

Who here remembers W.'s promises about the big tax cut?

The Deficit President - And how he's getting away with it. By Jonathan Chait

Of course, now he can blame bad economics on Sept. 11.

CNN.com - Taliban fighter from prison uprising says he's American - December 2, 2001

And of course, he's from Northern California. Actually, that explains a lot.

Well, it looks like they finally caught me. I tried to download a firmware update for my new 3Com wireless LAN card that includes 128-bit encryption, but got the following e-mail instead:

"Your request to download software from 3Com Web site has been denied because you have supplied invalid information or your company or name is listed on the U.S. Government's Prohibited Parties list. Federal regulations prohibit 3Com from engaging in business transactions with companies or individuals that are on this list."

Now let's hope John Ashcroft doesn't detain me.

Flak Magazine: Review of BBSes, 11-23-01

A nostalgic article for those of us who stil remember BBSs. May they rest in peace.

Spain Sets Hurdle for Extraditions

Ironic that the Europeans are forcing us to apply our own constitutional principles.

CNN.com - China plans moon landing

Hey China: bad idea.

I love holiday weekends, particularly those occurring near Christmas.

Yesterday, I had Thanksgiving dinner with Geoff, Sarah and Geoff's family, who are visiting from Arizona (if you can really call Sun City Arizona), Gregg P. and crazy Jamie. Afterward we all watched a DVD with the first season of the Simpsons. It was nice, but I would rather have been in Phoenix. I slept in until 1:30 p.m. and totally missed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bummer.

Today, I went into work to find maybe four people in the whole building, so I went to the mall for lunch (Rubio's), visited the new Apple store and bought the new Castle Wolfenstien game. Naturally, I went home early. Awesome graphics and gameplay, but for multiplayer, I still say there's nothing better than Tribes 2, even when some dork calls you a "dumbass" for mounting an AA barrel on a turret to replace the ELF turret when it's clearly the better choice. But that's another story...

I saw "Shallow Hal" tonight. Not exactly challenging, but cute.

Wow, it's been a few days.

Comdex was good, though it seemed far less crowded and spectacular than in past years -- it was almost like a big trade show. I saw a few cool things, including a 3-D glasses system that' supposed to make any Direct X or Open GL game (that's just about any PC game made these days) three dimensional. I bought a pair, but Nvidia hasn't updated their drivers for Windows XP yet.

Speaking of graphics cards, I finally figured out what setting was causing all those lockups. I was so happy to have my games working again I ended up playing Tribes 2 until four in the morning.

Oh yeah -- the other cool thing I saw at Comdex was a 3Com 802.11b wireless card with a retractable antenna. I didn't see them for sale at the show, and haven't seen them at Fry's, Circuit City or MicroCenter, so I bid for one on eBay. So far, I'm winning the auction, so I may just get a refurbished unit for $50. Sweet!

Watched the Britney Spears concert tonight on HBO. I haven't seen anything that cheesy since the 1989 Debbie Gibson concert at ASU.

TNR Online | Hit the Ground by the Editors

The case for ground troops.

Gauging Bush’s credibility index

Someone finally writes what I've been thinking for awhile.

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arizona finds 9th-inning magic

Yankees rally in 10th to win Game 4

Crap.

Economists are cool to stimulus plan

Amazing. Republicans managed to turn a national tragedy into corporate tax cuts.

It's too good to be true: after six months of having to park a mile away in a garage that constantly oversold its spaces, the Business Journal finally got parking across the street. Suddenly I'll have more free time, happier feet and the ability to leave stuff in my car. It's like a dream.

Speaking of simple pleasures:

I got this cool super-backpack, which I believe will make me the ultimate road warrior. I mean, this thing has pockets for everything. The only thing missing was a shoulder-strap holster for my cell phone (the one that came with the backpack was too small), but lo, I saw the perfect holster at an event I was covering called SyncFest and bought it on the spot. So now, I have the perfect traveling setup. NO ONE CAN STOP ME!!!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

TNR Online | The Big One by Gregg Easterbrook

If Anthrax doesn't scare you, this will.

Sometimes I get pleasure from the simplest things. This weekend I bought a much-needed nightstand -- a last-minute purchase I almost didn't see at "Bed, Bath...and Beyond!" Anyway, it's a surprisingly elegant little prefab unit that looks like a carefully handcrafted wooden shelf, stained with a rich brown finish. It's funny what a little piece of furniture can do to a room. In addtion to finally giving me a place to put my cell phone, wallet and keys, it makes everything look a little neater. I love going into my room.

Well, I feel better, so I guess I didn't have Anthrax. That's a relief.

Tonight I had a bowl of Cap'n Crunch for the first time in years. I'd forgotten how delicious Crunch Berries are, and completely unaware that they now come in three different colors. That's progress for you. Unfortunately, they're still physically hard on the mouth. They really ought to work on a softter shape.

If you haven't seen this yet, it's a cool collection of 3D models of U.S. jets.

Wow, it's been a few days since I've updated this. I'm finally getting over a fierce cold/flu. I'm not sure how I got it, but I think a week of getting no sleep in New York finally got to me. I spent all day today inside, alternating between playing video games and sleeping. I think I'll do the same tomorrow, but will try to get out for church and a little grocery shopping.

I set up a wireless network at work, which should make life just a little easier at the office. It'll be nice to be able to use the laptop anywhere in the building and have one less thing to plug in every morning.

Waging war by remote control

Finally, the killer robots we've all been waiting for.

It looks as if I'll be in Phoenix a little longer than anticipated, so I have a few minute to update the Web site. Had I known I'd be in Phoenix all day, I'd have made plans with friends.

Our last day in NY was a extremely fun. We did the Empire State Building, Rockerfeller Center, and Macy's, among others. And let's not forget the highlight of the trip, a Conan O'Brien taping. If you looked closely enough, you could see me on national TV last night (I'm the guy in blue sitting behind "Preparation H Man." I wish I had gotten to stay in NY longer, but I'm also glad to be getting home.

Today was a blast. We went to Times Square, saw the Statue of Liberty (from the Staten Island ferry), the Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village, and "Rent." We also got as close as we could to the World Trade Center, a couple of blocks away. It looks pretty much like it appears on the news, only with a strong, almost burning stench of smoldering plastic. It was hard to believe that the fenced-off area only a few weeks ago held the city's two largest edifices. One of the old men in the crowd could only shake his head and click his tongue. What a shame indeed.

As expected, security was especially tight over the city as a whole. But I never thought I'd see so many police and National Guard units camped out in the middle of a city.

Statue of Liberty: closed.

New York Stock Exchange: closed, with a buffer of police cars and barriers around the building.

Well, it looks like we're finally hitting back. I wonder how this will affect my time here in New York or my trip back.

Today, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a fake medieval
monastary with real medieval religious atrifacts you'd expect to find there, the Hudson River, Little Italy, Chinatown (not as good as San Francisco's Chinatown), Soho, and the Deli made famous by Seinfield.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, when we'll see a Broadway show, visit the Statue of Liberty (assuming it doesn't get a bomb threat) and something else.

Today we went to the Hamptons, a group of fancy beach towns on Long Island frequented by celebrities and best remembered -- by me, anyway -- as the focal point of certain Seinfield episode. Some of the landmarks dated back to the 1600s, which is interesting from an America historical perspective. We shopped at a few antique shops (as a guy, not my first choice of activity), participated in a wine tasting and visited a cool mansion whose name escapes me. MBV wanted to show us that there's more to New York than "the City." Maybe so, but judging from today, not much more.

In the "This Always Happens to Me" Dept.: Last night we wanted to see some live music, so we saw a listing for a ska concert. MBV noticed that the band was from Arizona and asked me if I'd ever heard of them. She misstated the name, so it didn't ring a bell. We went to the venue and while listening to the opening band noticed a poster for "Warsaw Poland Bros." I realized this was the new name for Warsaw, the band whose lead singer SB "dated," (for lack of a better term) and whose guitar player made fun of me for drinking a Zima. Suddenly, I realized that that was the band MBV was talking about, and that I was about to sit through an excruciating concert of bad memories...MBV even recreated one of them by requesting "Slow Down Sister," also known as the P-word song. Oh boy...

Tomorrow: Manhatten.

Now I'm in Central Park. I'm struck by the enormity of this city and the foresight of whoever envisioned establishing public space as the municipal core. NY is awesome, in the original sense of the term.

Here I am -- in New York city! I got an unlimited subway/bus card (Bay Area Rapid Transit, are you listening?) and am heading toward Manhattan. I have about nine hours to kill before LS gets here.

I'm sitting in Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, which seems reassuringly busy. The only real difference I've noticed is the Phoenix "bike cops" riding around the place. San Jose, by contrast, looked deserted. Guards searched my ride's car at the airport parking lot, and in addition to the usual check at the ticket counter, asked for a photo ID at the security gate and even at the plane itself. Uh, weren't those hijackers TICKETED PASSENGERS?

MBV called me a "motherfucker" when I told her I was getting in at 6 a.m. Apparently, she's still a little jet-lagged.

Protesters march on Washington

Those anti-globalization cabbage-heads are at it again.

Wanna see something funny?

Whopper of the Week: Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer, and Dick Cheney by Timothy Noah

Well, it looks like Talbot's statements do have some basis.

Salon.com News | Democracy held hostage

"When White House vizier Karl Rove and Ari Fleischer feed an egregious lie to the public about why the president did not immediately return to the White House on Sept. 11 -- insisting that Air Force One and the White House were under threat -- and then try to spin their way out of it when the story unravels, that does not inspire confidence."

Was the White House lying about why Bush didn't immediately return to the Capitol Sept. 11? David Talbot seems to think so, though unfortunately, he doesn't fully explain his remarks.

I've been thinking about that luggage story -- why would someone planning a suicide air attack bother packing up a suitcase?

Hijack instructions found in luggage

The first time in history an airline's luggage screwup has been a good thing.

Well, it looks like the New York trip is still on. MBV finally checked her e-mail from Europe, and said she still wanted LS and me to come. Let's hope my flight plans haven't been completely screwed up. As much as I'm trying to avoid letting terrorists alter my way of life, I can't get around how much the context of this visit has changed in the last three weeks. Not only am I nervous to fly for the first time in my life, a certain sense of solemnity and even gloom has replaced the excitement I felt before. Funny how a terrorist plot can ruin a good trip.

The funny thing is, MBV didn't seem at all fazed by the fact her hometown has been attacked by terrorists. I guess there really is something different about New Yorkers.

The Bush Sr. Apologizes To Son For Funding Bin Laden In '80s

Near the bottom of the page. Funny and more than a little insightful...

TNR Online | No Choice by Lawrence Kaplan (1 of 2)

Just when you think The New Rupublic is moving too far to the left. A nicely argued essay.

Bush issues ultimatum to Taliban

Finally, a Bush speech with actual content. It sounds like we're doing all the right things. If I were a terrorist, I'd have to be a little nervous right now. I like that Bush made it clear that terrorist governments will pay a high price for harboring terrorists. Let's face it, the Taliban is a "government" that should have been taken out a long time ago.

I attended an industry dinner last night purportedly on the riveting topic of real-time computing. But of course, everyone ended up talking about the terrorist attacks. Over and over again, we asked ourselves how such a small and unsophiticated group could cause such severe damage on the most powerful nation in history. I think Taliban officials answered that best earlier this year when they blew up priceless Buddhist artifacts: "It is easier to destroy than to build."

Truth or Consequences by William Saletan

This is an excellent response to those who who suggest that the United States alter its foriegn policy to mollify terrorsts.

God Gave U.S. 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says (washingtonpost.com)

"I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist," [Falwell] said. But he said America's "secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture . . . the result is not good."

Because, as we all know, radical Muslims love Christianity. God bless the Religious Right.

I'll put this in a more permanent position on this site this weekend, but for now, here's a way to contribute in the wake of this week's horrendous act of terrorism.

Well, I'm trying to scrounge up story ideas for this week and can't get past the feeling that, in the wake of this week's tragedy, anything I do will be laughably insignificant. I don't think even I would read a regular tech story this week.

How Missile Defense Would Help Terrorists, by Robert Wright

An excellent argument that this Bush's missle defense whould spur, not dampen, future terrorist attacks.

"The more nuclear materials there are floating around beyond American control, the worse things look. And missile defense would probably raise that amount."

Salon.com Politics | "We predicted it"

Even more interesting:

They went to great pains not to sound as though they were telling the president "We told you so."

But on Wednesday, two former senators, the bipartisan co-chairs of a Defense Department-chartered commission on national security, spoke with something between frustration and regret about how White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year.

Another good one, from the same center-left magazine...

TNR Online | Fighting Fire by Eliot A. Cohen

Here's a thought-provoking essay on how we should respond to the recent terrorist attack. I have to say I mostly agree...

TNR Online | Above the Law by Lawrence F. Kaplan

OK, one more thought, an excerpt from an article that echoes my thoughts exactly...

"As If Someone Had Blown a Hole in the Sky Itself" by Jacob Weisberg
"The only official I saw who failed to create some sense of reassurance was the president. All he knew how to do was read his statement and offer a prayer. My honest, churlish reaction: I wish Bill Clinton were still the president. We all felt better when Mayor Giuliani came on. Giuliani is a man who knows how to deal with an emergency."

Just one more thought. I think the United States should:

1) Invade Afghanistan, and extract Osama bin Laden, based simply on his previous actions. We'd be completely justified, and we need to take tangible action.

2) Declare formal war on any countries involved in this act and beat the hell out of them.

Nation Plunges Into Fight With Enemy Hard to Identify and Punish

"Disappointing some of his political advisers and allies, who felt he should have returned to Washington at once from a trip to Florida to symbolize that the government was functioning, President Bush headed instead to Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, where a more secure command post was available. At the height of the Cuban missile crisis, when the sense of danger was just as palpable, John F. Kennedy stayed in Washington."

Interesting...

A telling photo...

Crap. Because of the World Trade Center bombing, we're going to press at midnight tomorrow, meaning that's how long we reporters will have to stay at work tomorrow night. I'd better get a full night's sleep tonight.

In case anyone was wondering what difference it makes to have a president wih intellectual depth...

U.S. pondering its response

Here's a problem W. won't be able to B.S. his way through.

Terrorists strike World Trade Center

There's not much I can add about this horrifying, sickening attack. I got the news this morning from Sarah Sun, who left a message of the attack on my voicemail. I thought she had fallen victim to an e-mail hoax, but sure enough, it was true.

What surprises me is that, unlike the bombings of Oklahoma City bombing or U.S.S. Cole, this attack was so well coordinated. Terrorists hijacked four separate planes, meaning our security system failed four separate time in the span of less than an hour. That's a scary realization.

I have a feeling that we're going to invade Afghanistan and extract Osama bin Laden -- even if he's not responsible for this particular attack -- as a show of force.

What a sad day for the United States.

I'm happy to report that Blogger's wireless edition is back up. (I'm writing this from my phone.) Here at Borders, I've just witnessed one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a long time -- I was not aware that Mary-Kate and Ashley have their own magazine. I am not making this up.

Check it out -- I have a 9.6 rating on HotOrNot.com:

HOT or NOT Official Rating 9.6 based on 85 votes Check out my picture! My raw votes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How HOT are you? - www.hotornot.com

Now keep in mind, this site totally graves on a curve (they call it "normalizing" the scale). But still -- 9.6! Now how come I don't have a girlfriend?

Cheney refuses to hand over names

Is anyone at all surprised by this?

Spent the day in Santa Cruz...

Here's something you don't see every day, at least when you live in a normal part of the country: two hippies selling drugs near an ATM (the pair directed people there when they were short on cash), within a few yards of a county sheriff's car and a guy playing gospel rap from his boom box across the street.

Ah, Northern Cal!

Study finds Americans work more

See? I told you those Europeans are lazy-asses.

Well, Labor Day weekend is finally here, which means summer is ending, I've been in San Jose nearly a year, and I've got to figure out what I'm going to do with all my extra time. The roommate's gone, too, so that leaves a universe of wide-open possibility.

Well, I definitely have to do some work on the video project I'm doing for the Business Journal, which I will do tomorrow when I go to Andrea's house. And Monday, I definitely want to go to Santa Cruz, to get in just one more beach day for the summer (ah, do I miss Southern California). So that leaves a wide-open today. It's almost 3:30 p.m., and I haven't even taken a shower yet. That's right, I'm funking up the couch. I do need to get my product review in, so I'll probably go to Fry's to look for something cool and cheap.

I can't believe I've been here nearly a year. What am I going to do with my life?

CNN.com - Congress predicts $9 billion taken from Social Security - August 27, 2001

In case I forgot to say it earlier, thanks, "president" Bush, for the $300 check!

Well, it's been a while since I updated this, but I have a good excuse.

First, I had a huge project I had to do for my church, but the weekend I planned to do it, I ended up going to Phoenix because of a last-minute e-mail deal from America West. Then my sister and brother-in-law ended up coming the following weekend, which didn't help matters any.

Then I was going to update this weekend, but ended up sleeping pretty much the entire time. So here I am, with nothing really to say. I've started another video project for work, and can already tell this one is going to be an absolute nightmare. The people in charge have no idea what they want, but want to see a preview in the next two weeks so they'll hve plenty of time for changes. Ugh.

In more encouraging news, I'm taking a trip to New York in October, and am getting pretty excited about it. Today I made a list of things I want to see for our self-proclaimed tourguide Nazi, MaryBeth Vanston. She's a fast-walker, so I'm sure we won't have much time to stop and smell the roses.

Kidman Says Cruise Denied Cruz Affair

Well, with those names, a little confusion is understandable.

White House Hangs Up on Tina's Talk (Washington Post)

Uh, Mr. President, aren't your daughters adults now?

For the second time in three months, I found myself within five feet of Bill Gates and couldn't help wondering what would happen if I just walked up to him and pushed him. I physically could have pushed the richest man on earth. Scary. If I were that rich, I'd have at least one highly visible body guard.

Best line of the night (during a panel with Bill Gates, Andy Groove and other early PC pioneers):
"I may have invented CTRL-ALT-DELETE, but Bill here made it famous."

Ken Brown here, reporting from Starbucks in San Jose's trendy little Willow Glen district. I'm actually testing Starbuck's new high-speed wireless service, provided by MobileStar. It seems to work pretty well, though I had to drive halfway accross town to find a Starbucks actually running the service. I'll link to my full review on the Business Journal soon...

Vikings’ Stringer dies of heatstroke
Pro Bowl tackle Korey Stringer died Wednesday of heat stroke, a day after collapsing at the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp on the hottest day of the year.

Further proof that you should never exert yourself.

How the Democrats should answer W's religious charity funding plan.

I'm happy to report that I've finally finished my video project, the chore that has sucked up all of my free time over the last three weeks. It's not perfect -- there are plenty of little errors I'd like to go back and correct and things I'd have done differently with more time -- but all in all, I'd say it's a pretty darn good peice of work. Still, I'm not sure I would have volunteered had I known how much work was involved. I wonder how much of a courtesy bonus I'll get for this. Considering I had to use my own computer (an irony, considering the bosses wouldn't "rent" a new editing deck from me), It had better be more than a token thanks. I saved them at least $30,000 from what they would have had to pay a third party -- and they wouldn't have had any software to show for it!

Oh well, I'm just glad to be through. Now I can actually enjoy my weekend. And of course, I'm tons more familiar with Adobe Premiere. Now on to Affer Effects...

Katherine Harris to run for Congress

The most disturbing part of this article is that this she-man and I were born in the same city.

CNN.com - Berlusconi backs Bush over missile defense
A telling Bushism from the article: "I frankly do not care what the political polls say. I do care about the opinions of people..."

Um, Mr. President, polls ARE the opinions of people.

Another good cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

Smoking can help Czech economy, Philip Morris-Little report says
"Philip Morris Cos. officials in the Czech Republic have been distributing an economic analysis concluding that cigarette consumption isn’t a drag on the country’s budget, in part because smokers’ early deaths help offset medical expenses."

Of course, Hitler tried to make a similar argument to Czech leaders during WWII about the positive effects of the Nazi occupation.

Surprise, surprise:
Bush camp promoted illegal balloting in Florida

Wow, what a full day! I took the train up to San Francisco, hung out at the park near the Metreon, went to the an Francisco Museum of Modern Art which I forgot was showing its high-tech exhibit "Art in Technological Times." (It was cool, but the most interesting exhibit there was actually a series of large-format photography that has to be seen to be appreciated.) Afterwards I ordered my favorite meal, Capellini, from a restaurant at the Metreon and tried to see Moulin Rouge, which unfortunately was sold out. So instead I went shopping at Macy's for some clothes I'll need for my employer's new dress code (more on that travesty in a later post). Then I walked over to Virgin Records to find new music to look for online, ordered some hot chocolate from the third-floor cafe, and from a window, watched the people below and read a book. Now if I were writing a personal ad, that's how I'd describe a perfect date. Too bad I was all by myself. That's not counting the train ride home, which I spent sitting next to a union-environmental activist who offered other passengers Sierra Club newsletters to pass the time. Suddenly, I gained a new appreciation for my MP3 player.

Well, CheckFree has unfrozen my acocunt. Somehow the old Bank One account got reactivated. We'll see how long this lasts.

Oh, boy! Another faith-based educational program!

Here's a cute little picture of my neice, Katelynn Faith Burns.

I've always been a big believer in the Internet and online services, but after what I've been through this month with Microsoft Money, WingspanBank.com and CheckFree, I don't think I could seriously recommend online banking to anyone.

I've been using that combination of services since mid-1990s with no problems, even after my original bill-payment service, Visa ePay, got out of the business. Then last month, I get a letter from CheckFree saying there was a problem "locating" my account. Somehow, my software was trying to pay my bills through a checking account I closed more than a year ago. To make matters worse, about a month's worth of bills had gone unpaid, with no notification from CheckFree. After spending at least four hours on the phone with people from CheckFree and Microsoft, I managed to resolve the problem and secured promises from CheckFree that they'd send explainations to my creditors explaining the problem and requesting a reversal of any late fees.

Well, two weeks later, I've discovered that my service has been "frozen" by CheckFree. I called my bank: plenty of money in the account.

Will I ever resolve the issue? Will I have to yell at some poor front-line worker and cancel my account altogether? Stay tuned...

George Bush, explaining why he wants to fund religious groups with tax money: "Religious liberty is more than the right to believe in God's love. It is the right to be an instrument of God’s love. Such work is beyond the reach of government and beyond the role of government.”



Um, Mr. President, isn't that the agrument AGAINST your "faith-based" charity funding proposal?

Can you really call it a "space agency" if you've never been to space?

Well, it looks like another round of blackouts is imminent. Summer dreams, indeed.

Well, I got my wireless home network up and running. Thank you, George W. Bush, for helping me pay for it; I'll remember this day, even as I'm eating dog food in some free nursing home. The technology is kinda cool -- now I don't have to walk all the way to my bedroom to use the Internet (I'm updating this from my couch!) What's really cool is that I'll probably be able to use this at the forthcoming wireless-enabled Starbucks outlets. Of course, I'm assuming they'll be using the 802.11b standard, which would make sense considering it's the one actually available. I mean, there's no sense in advertising something most people can't use, is there? Is there?!

For some reason I watched "The Whole Nine Yards" on HBO tonight for the second time. I hate it when I can't help watching dumb movies.

So sleepy. So very sleepy.

I've had the apartment to myself for three days (the rommate's out of town until Tuesday) and it already looks like a pig sty. I guess it's true that, left to their own devices, most guys would wallow in their own filth. Man, she's going to kill me. I'd better clean this place up tomorrow.

It looks like I'm not the only one who hates Canadians. An interesting episode of public radio's This American Life.

I just had the epitomal San Francisco encounter at Albertson's. I saw a fairly attractive woman in one of the isles but couldn't help noticing how unusually tall she was. I spent the rest of the time wondering how she found men that tall and if she'd ever date someone as short as me. By pure coincidence, I ended up behind her in the checkout line. Struck by how deep her voice when she addressed the clerk, I took a closer look at her face and suddenly realized that "she" was no woman -- at least in a strict biological sense. Can you sing "Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola...?"

In other news, beware Microsoft Money. It'll work fine for a few months and then turn on you.

New heart problem for Cheney
Dick Cheney has a heart?

Heard a great Simpsons line today, by Ned Flanders:
"Well it looks like heaven's easier to get into these days than Arizona State."

I'm ashamed to say I spent $9 last night to see Tomb Raider. It had some prety decent special effects -- like the one where they made that nasty tattoo on Angelina Jolie's back disappear.

Here come the blackouts!

Vitamin C Found to Promote Cancer-Causing Agents
Yet another reason why looking out for your health is a complete waste of time.

Sometimes in the most unexpected times I'm reminded of exactly how fortunate I am to be doing what I do for a living. Today I downloaded songs to test the new MP3Pro standard, helped a co-worker set up e-mail for a nifty high-speed wireless modem, took a 90-minute lunch, interviewed a company that designs database software for all sorts of cool gadgets and made a map to Pac-Bell stadium for a Giants game I'll attend tomorrow night as part of a data beaming service review.

And I'm getting paid for this.

Another excellent essay in The New Republic on Jim Jefford's so-called "coup of one."

Yet another example of why media consolidation is bad. Isn't it funny that Michael Powell's FCC insists on expanding obscenity laws for radio -- a philosophy that content should be regulated because airwaves are limited and should therefore serve the public interest -- but has no problem with loosening media ownership rules that put those public airwaves in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals?

An excellent article in The New Republic on why Michael Powell's unilateral redefinition of antitrust will have grave consequences for the American public.

Maybe this sounds like a banal observation, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced that media companies should never go public or sell themselves to publicly owned corporations. Good, serious journalism just isn't compatible with the short-term financial goals of Wall Street investors.

Yes, journalism can -- and must -- remain profitable to survive. But when a newspaper begins mandating layoffs solely because it wants to enjoy the profit margins and growth goals of other Wall Street companies, journalistic quality becomes secondary. Sure, family owned newspapers are always at the mercy of their egomaniacal owners, but they usually saw journalism as a public service, willing to suffer thinner-than-average margins as a reality of the business. And as we saw with CNN, a privately owned news operation -- even when headed by a self-absorbed gadfly like Ted Turner -- can produce groundbreaking journalism.

We can only hope.

McCain Personally Reassures Bush on Party Plans Darn.

McCain is considering leaving GOP -- Yesssssssssssssss!

It's so touching to see daughters growing up in their father's footsteps.

Uh oh. We're at stage II. Let the blackouts begin.

Another deadline has come and gone. I'm more tired than usual because my roommate and I had a water emergency last night that, when combined with this stupid back cramp of mine, have kept me up half the night. To top it off, I had to take a shower at the gym this morning, and a co-worker saw me naked. Let me tell you, that is the most uncomfortable position in the world to be in. Oh well, at least it wasn't a boss or something.

In other news, I was rummaging through Business Journals in other parts of the country and noticed that S.B. won a national writing award. I wish I could say I was happy for her. As petty as it sounds, I was actually a little jealous. Now I can never move back to Phoenix.

Once again, I hate Canadians.

Awwwww yeah!

Salon.com Politics | The White House vandal scandal that wasn't So nice to have an administration marked by such integrety. Or not.

CompuServe's JForum Ends Operation It looks like the Journalism and PR forums on CompuServe are "merging." That's probably the most disturbing bit of news in months.

If you don't read Slate's "Diary" feature, you ought to. It's a real slice of life from people in different occupations that provides suprising insights about the people we see but don't know. Sort of an adult version of Sesame Street's "These are the people in your our neighboorhood." This week's entry is from a waiter in Portland. I'm always taken by how elegant, simple and clear the stories are.

Well, here I am in Phoenix. It's weird how conflicted I am about this place and whether I'll ever move back here. In one sense, this really feels like home to me: some of my best friends and memories are here, not to mention family. As I drove around w/ Chad and Susan tonight just about every place we went to had some personal significance to me. It's corny, but I feel so sentimental about this place, as hard as it is to explain to outsiders. Manzanita Hall, Arizona Mills, University Avenue. These were the places and times that shaped me into the person I am now.

But I just can't imagine what I'd actuallly do if I moved back here. Covering the tech market here would seem like such a drag compared to Silicon Valley.I mean, Chad, Susan and I could even think of anything fun to do here tonight.

And despite all of its problems, I really do love California -- its beaches, variety and left-leaning politics. I probably miss Southern California more than I do Arizona now. I guess I could always retire in Arizona.

Maybe I shouldn't write so late at night; everything starts to get a little sappy after 1 a.m.

The 2001 winners are in! I love this annual contest: designers are limited to 5K or less to create the best-looking and most useful web site. The creativity of some of these people is just amazing. It's surprising what a person can do with so little space. And clicking on the homepages of judges and participants is a goldmine in design ideas. Highly recommended.

What the Democrats need is someone like me.

Just for the record, Reeses peanut butter cups kick ass. As does Rubios, which I'll be eating at today for the first time in months. Why can't downtown San Jose have a nice selection of decent fast food?

Don't tell me DEMOCRATS are the ones who'll wind up gutting campaign finance reform.

The White House has finally vocalized what we've long suspected it believes: Wasting gas is the American Way.

It's a scary thing when rolling blackouts don't even make CNN's front page anymore.

Here I am again at my favorite Borders store, here in Santa Cruz. I spent all day at the beach and had an epiphany this afternoon that I'll probably never be able to live farther than an hour's drive from the shore. Even the perilous 30-minute jaunt here is pushing it. (Maybe this is actually my second-favorite Borders. The store in Newport Beach was easier to reach and was just across the street from Virgin Megastore and that corny little mall, Triangle Square.) Maybe I should move to Santa Cruz when my lease is up.

In other news, I'll be back to my old Phoenix stomping grounds next weekend. Clear out space on your Palm Pilots, 'cause Kenny's back in town and ready to party! Ah, who am I kidding? I'll probably wind up seeing "Joe Dirt" in downtown Tempe.

Speaking of Joe Dirt, am I the only one that noticed he stole my life story? The movie sounds a little to much like "Billy Dirt Jeans" to be coincidence...

It's about time Democrats started fighting back.

Yo yo yo, check this out: I hooked up my CE device to the corporate network. Awwww yeah!

Since when does the owner of a giant corporation have an official say in government policy? Anyone who thinks big business doesn't affect their lives ought to read this.

As musch as I enjoy the benefits of free trade, Tom Tomorrow, as usual, has a point.

I wish I could say this is a hoax.

Man oh man, what a trip. California Adventure was so-so, the writing conference was a mixed bag, and a certain co-worker had me seriously pissed off by the end of the trip.

So anyway, now I'm back in the thick of things, quickly realizing that I don' have enough time to actually impliment anything I learned.

Guess where I'll be in about four hours...

Despite our desperate need to believe the world's greatest democracy didn't elect an idiot to lead the free world, George W. Bush really is as dumb as he seems, writes Jonathan Chait.

How's this for geeky: I signed up to be in a spring video game league for Tribes 2. Hopefully, my team will prove a lot more successful than my softball team.

Another 5-4 decision that splits the high court's conservatives and liberals. It's only gonna get worse, people, when W. starts making appointments.

From today's Slate: "By this standard, Quebec City might be a turning point. OK, it's small and cute, but it is in Canada, which means that by definition it isn't cool."

Man, I love anti-canadian sentiment.

Exactly.

And now he's backing down from his previous hard-line and incredibly stupid stance on Alaskan refuge oil drilling. It looks like W.'s learning what "balance of power" means.

Yes, it looks like W. is backtracking. I guess he's learning that greens and mainstream environmentalists are going to give him trouble, even if they did hand him the White House with their Nader votes. Now if only people felt as strongly about election procedures and campaign finance reform.

I can't believe I'm starting to like Mac OS X. I love that the spell-checker is built into the operating system. And as a Windows user, I'm just a little envious of the multi-system instant message application, "Fire."

Is Bush turning green? I thought people turned red from shame. Well, at any rate, I wonder if it's too late to cancel my check to the Sierra Club.

Yet another reason to hate Canadians.

Wow, miracles do happen, even in the Bush II administration.

One more thing:

My old computer, which is now hooked up at work, has been making this annoying buzzing sound. Despite my previous conjectures, I know now it's not any of the hard drives, because I scientifically unplugged them separately to test that hypothesis, being the closet scientist I am. Anyway, I think I've narrowed it down to the CPU cooling fan. What is it, and more importantly, how do I make the evil spirits in the fan go away?

Good news! Blogger is saved!

I can't believe I'm about to drive to the post office and mail off my taxes. I did them online more than a month ago, but like the procrastinator I am, I waited until today to actually send state form and federal confirmation in. Arrrgh. And to top it all off, I have to pay $118 in state taxes. And guess how many stories I have to do before noon tomorrow? Three. Calgon, take me away!

Did you know that a 24 oz. Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd smothie has 755 calories? That's not a drink -- that's a freakin' meal!

Wow, I've been playing Tribes 2 so much since it arrived that I'm losing all sense of time and reality. Trust me, it's a sad way to spend one's Friday night. I don't know how long I was palying last night, but I slept till noon this morning and immediately started playing when I woke up. And now I'll be late to the Newshounds party. At the risk of sounding like a bigger geek than I already do, let me just say this game is awesome.

Naturally.

For the record, I hate Sarah Lacy.

They've sissified my Mach III.

In other news, my angry letter to SONICblue worked. They admitted that some early units had a design flaw that made them susceptable to static electricity damage and offered to replace the unit for free. Now let's hope this one doesn't die.

Sad but true.

This just in from Matt:

I got something for your website. I met the guys from Creed this weekend at the Solid Rock golf tournament and they are the biggest jerks in the world.

You can quote me on that.

Thanks, Matt.

I've finally gotten around to posting the photos of last weekend's visit from my good buddy Matt. For the first time since I moved, I got to show a tourist around the Bay Area and managed to keep him entertained. This is not as easy as it sounds, even in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Imagine two theoretical forces in the universe: the unstoppable force, and the immovable object. Matt would be the immovable object.

I saw Memento last night. It's an excellent movie -- suspenseful, engaging and profound. The story traces backwards the story of a man trying to search for his wife's killer while dealing with a rare form of amesia that allows him to retain long-term memories but not make new ones. Peeling away layers of the present to get to the past, the themes of identity, truth and our capcity for self-deception unravel in a capitvatingly orginal way. This is the best movie I've seen in a while, even taking into account the film festival I attended recently. This film is so rich I'm going to have to see it again.

Thanks to Dubya, stupid is in!

Actually, they sound more like Juliana Hatfield. Oh, that's because that's who's really singing.

Is it just me, or do Josie and the Pussycats sound just like Letters to Cleo?

Gladiator for best picture? You've got to be kidding me.

Don't be fooled by the menu above (if there's no menu yet, just wait a few seconds). I'm not finished with it, so it doesn't work. Not to mention I don't actually have any of those pages listed anyway.

I went to the Games Developers Conference yesterday hoping to see the only title I care about, Tribes 2, but alas, Sierra Studios wasn't even there. I did get to sit through a 90-minute workshop on how to design a realistic-looking human head. It was like watching C-SPAN for geeks. I just didn't realize that much thought went into things like that. I must say, it made me feel a little guilty for not playing more games. The funny thing is, the process is exactly what I imagined for my screenplay, Gameboys. I really need to rewrite that script and start pitching it, espacially since I now have connections in the indie film world.

Speaking of geeky things, I may buy a new computer this weekend. The P III's with 128 M and built-in CD writer have finally fallen to under $1,000, so now's the time. I'll need a faster machine to play Tribes 2 anyway. Woo-hoo! I love new computers, as sad as that is.

Now the dilemma -- do I go to Santa Cruz or play with the new toy?

Unbelievable. Could the Republicans be any further in the pocket of big corporations? I don't know whether to be more angry at these brazenly greedy businesses, the willfully ignorant politicians or the cabbage-heads who voted for Ralph Nader.

My life has hit rock bottom; I actually laughed out loud watching 7th Heaven tonight.

Rolling blackouts are back, baby! This is not a good harbinger of summer. If I suddenly go offline this afternoon, you'll know why.

Does Ralph Nader still think there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans? How about now? Well what about this? God bless the GOP -- always looking out for the interests of the rich and powerful.

Today I made it to church on time for the first time ever since I moved. It's a spring miracle!

I ended up going to Santa Cruz today, and as I was heading down Riverside I noticed the Peter Pan Motel, the infamous home of my 1989 summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ. (I particpated my freshman year of college at Arizona State, long before I moved here,) Sure enough, the marquee sign read "Campus Crusade for Christ." Funny thing is, I don't remember those things starting until April or May. But at any rate, I saw a young-looking group milling around the grounds, which brought back all sorts of memories. That was me 12 years ago! Very strange.

The day also got me thinking about something S.L. said on Friday, when I was trying to decide between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. San Fran is good when you have something in mind to do, she said, but Santa Cruz is a place you can "just be." How true. I don't know whether things have always been this way, but public spaces -- places to just sit and be -- seem progressively sparse. These days, people gather in places like malls and bookstores, where a person has to purchase the right to spend time. BTW, the price for sitting in Borders and typing this up was $6.47: $4.75 for the tuna sandwich (with mustard -- ugh) and Lays Classic chips, $1.25 for the 16 oz. Hi-C lemonade and 47 cents in state tax for ordring it "for here" instead of "to go." Even government wants you to cough up the cash to just be.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Darn. The pld phone turned up.

We lost yet another softball game tonight. Slaughtered is probably a more apt description. Unfortunately, about half of the other team failed to show, so the coaches replaced AWOL players with field groupies -- those college and high school atheletes who didn't make it to the pros but love to hang out at ameteur facilities and beat the crap out of teams like ours. S.L. is filing a formal complaint, and we'll definitely look for another facility to play a spring league. Bastards.

That wasn't the end of our crappy night, though. Milpitas had a power outage that knocked out all the street lights, so S.L., G.E. and I got stuff in a city-wide traffic jam. And to top it off, I lost my cell phone. Maybe this gives me an excuse to buy one of these SmartPhones. I'll make a token effort to find the old one, but if I can't, I have no choice but to purchase the new one.

Yee-haw! More good news.

You gotta love those California summers.

Okay, after completely losing this page in a freak accident involving frames and the redirect function of the company that actually owns the ken-brown.com URL, I've finally got things back up again. Funny how quick and easy it was the second time around.

Hopefully, I'll learn how to post photos through Blogger soon so this entire page isn't plain old boring text. We'll see. And if all goes well, I'll have the Flash menu up and running by this weekend. Don't count on it, though. This weekend will be the first confluence of warm weather and my health in a long time, so I'm planning to go to either San Fransisco or Santa Cruz this weekend. Woo-hoo!

Finally, a reason to amend the Constitutuion. The North will rise again!

Well, here it is, my brand new Web site. Many people -- and by "many," I mean "imaginary" -- have asked me why I'd so drastically change my old site. One, it was just time for a change. I wanted something that looked as fresh as a newly opened Mentos. Second and more important, I wanted to do certain things with the site I just couldn't with Yahoo, as much as I love that family of services. These easy-as-pie updates, which you're seeing now, is a big one. I have less time and energy to do the frequent updates, but Blogger will make it a whole lot easier to write up my rants, which despite the impression you may have gotten with the old site, are actually getting more frequent. Soon, I hope to put up a Flash menu and all sorts of goodies. And future redesigns should prove much easier. But for now, this will have to suffice. Welcome back!