No, Virginia, Santa's dead

Turkish group demands Santa's bones

You gotta love CNN's illustration.

Damn you, Influenza!

I feel like crap today. No way to start the new year.

Chrismas vacation, continued...

I did pretty much nothing today. I tired doing some shoppng but didn't find the amazing deals the newspapers keep talking about in this so-called buyers market (see this on why this may not be the case). But I did use my Borders gift certificate to subscribe to Dwell magazine. I might do the same for Metropolis later. This wireless network of Mike's keeps disconnecting, so I'd better file this while I'm still online.

Christmas pics

Here are a few little scenes from our holiday...

Merry Christmas!

We've just opened all our presents and are getting ready to eat the traditional holiday lunch. We were up late last night inflating the 34-inch "Bigens" ball. It was a bastard to pump up, but getting the plug in was the hardest part.

I got a Star Wars II DVD and a Border's gift cetificate. I think I'll get an architecture magazine subscription with it, if they do that there. Otherwise, maybe just a programming book or something.

Lott: 'I fell into ... trap' set by foes

"When you’re from Mississippi and you’re a conservative and you’re a Christian, there are a lot of people that don’t like that. I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame," he says.

On the contrary, Trent, it was your fellow Southern Christian conservatives -- Bill Frist, George Allen, Don Nickles, John Warner, Robert Bennett, Mitch McConnell, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Christopher Bond, to name a few -- who most wanted you gone. So the religious right's knee-jerk cry of liberal oppression doesn't quite work this time.

Live from Starbucks

This might be the first weekend in months where I’ve been in town with no plans and no work. It’s kind of nice to have absolutely nothing on the agenda, a wide-open two days. But yes, I do miss Andrea. She called this morning, and sounds like she’s having a great time. She spent all day poolside getting back her Brazilian tan.

I saw LOTR: The Two Towers tonight at Mann’s Fox Theater in Westwood. Very nice, even better than the Pacific Crest. It has a huge screen, balcony seating and a classy art-deco interior that includes curtains that open when the movie starts. And you can actually feel the THX pre-film trailer. I don’t know what I’ll do if I ever have to move somewhere less cool.

The movie itself was really entertaining, and the audience was totally into it, clapping at all the right moments and making its opinion about the previews clear (the crowd loved X-Men 2 and Terminator 3 but hated everything else).

And now I’m at the Starbucks next door, which stays open until 1 a.m. I got a couple of magazines earlier from the newsstand and am reading them over a hot chocolate. I don’t know why, but I really like reading architecture and design magazines. I don’t know why, since nothing in my house (expect maybe some of my tech gear) is really well designed. I wish there wasn’t such a premium on well-designed furniture and accessories. Also, I wish I had my own house.

Speaking of architecture, a guy I’ll assume is in the field (he’s looking over a set of blueprints at the big table) just asked to borrow a pencil. Who carries a pencil?

The Republicans are in charge #4

Guess who's in charge of lead safety?

Your online Wayback Machine

A fascinating article from a 1967 issue of Forbes about some newfangled concept called "electronic money." It correctly forecasts online (or more precisely, automatic) bill-paying, debit cards, national credit-card alliances (i.e. Visa and Mastercard), overdraft protection, direct deposit and credit card firms' hostility toward debit cards. It incorrectly predicts a daily salary, voice-print verification (rather than signatures and PINs) and the end of payroll records.

It also envisions something like ATMs, but imagines them as something located only at banks' branch offices and featuring a video connection to a live teller. For some reason, this is supposed to be cheaper than flesh-and-blood employees at the branch offices, which the machines replace.

What's most interesting about reading an article like this is getting a feel for the culture then, something most history-type articles fail to capture. For instance, Mastercard here is still known as the Inter Bank system and Bank of America has yet to create or license the Visa name.

And it seems that people were far more cavalier about paying their bills. One of the feared roadblocks to electronic money was consumers' unwillingness to see money deducted from their accounts right away. And apparently, all the stores offered deferred payment plans. In one scenario, a housewife happily postpones a bill to buy a TV.

Sears' comments about resisting bank credit cards ("We have an enormous credit card network of our own customers and we're not going to give it up without a fight.") is amusing in light of this. Most entertaining of all, the U.S. Postal Service is described at being overjoyed at the prospect of having to deliver less mail.

Anyway, the article is well worth reading. I'm reading the other old Forbes articles this weekend. I'm sure they included the stories that make the magazine seem especially prescient.

Buh-bye.

Lott to step down as Senate leader

Why it took me an hour and a half to get home yesterday

This federal building is on my way home. Police had to shut down the exits onto Wilshire and several lanes.

And if that weren't enough, this premiered is Westwood, bringing in more traffic and shutting down another street in front of the Fox Theater.

Movie recommendation

I finally saw Ghost World tonight (rental). I really enjoyed it, and didn't realize until just a few moments ago that it's based on a comic book. Anyway, it's one of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Republicans are in charge #3

New tax plan may bring burden shift

Another funny one...

...from Tom Tomorrow.

I love L.A.?

I finally switched my address for my insurance policy, and my rate more than doubled! USAA says it's because there's so much more traffic and so many more uninsured motorists (i.e. undocumented immigrants).

Man, that sucks. It's so hard to stay ahead financially.

I'm in San Jose right now, visiting Andrea one last time before she leaves for Brazil. I won't see her (except via videoconference) for more than a month.

Sigh...

Kissinger out as head of 9/11 panel

Yaaaaaaay!

Of course, he's resigning for all the wrong reasons. He didn't want to have to make his client list public.

Still not convinced?

More dirt on Trent Lott.

Stick a fork in him -- he's done

Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days

I was willing to believe that he didn't really mean he favored segregation when praising Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, but after his halfhearted apology and now this, he's got to go.

And I must say it's pretty sad to note that, after Tom Daschle defended the remarks, it was George W. Bush who finally spoke out firmly against them. Yet another example of spineless Democrats missing an opportunity to take the moral high ground.

Bush shakes up economic team

Bush has an economic team?

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

So I finally have a few spare minutes to blog. A pain-in-the-ass freelance assignment for my former employer sopped up all my free time this week. But the extra cash is always nice.

Thanksgiving weekend was really nice. I stayed with Andrea and work out of IBD's Silicon Valley office that Friday. Being able to spend a lot of time with Andrea at a leisurely pace was nice. We got to see the newly re-opened Union Square in San Francisco and Santana Row, a high-end residential and retail village of sorts in San Jose. It was all pretty fancy, but I heard that a studio apartment right in the heart of the development was renting for $1,200 a month -- exactly what I was paying for a room in San Jose. If only I were still making that kind of money.

This weekend is Andrea's and my 1-year dating anniversary. Man, it went by fast. What a crappy year it would have been without her. Anyway, she flies in late Friday night. I think we'll just hang around Westwood on Friday and drive up to Santa Barbara on Saturday. Maybe we'll even get to see Chad and Susan on Sunday, though Chad has certian romantic obligations of his own, considering it's her birthday. Maybe I'll have new pictures to post. Andrea says I've gained more weight since I moved, so we'll just have to compare photos. For the record, the scale still says 150.

Now it's not just slippery-slope alarmism...

In terror war, 2nd track for suspects

"The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects — U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike — may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say."

Why is a proven liar and wanted man in charge of the 9/11 investigation?

Interesting article in Slate.

Combination Of Market, Operating Strategy Keeps Drug Maker Busy

Another fascinating story from IBD.

Yaaaaaaaaay!

FDA sends Claritin over the counter

Bad font choice

Patricia Breen - Treat Seeker Ornament

Bush Saves Turkey from Thanksgiving Dinner Table

Here's the problem with this silly little tradition: I can't imagine presidents not eating Turkey on Thanksgiving Day, so some poor Turkey just replaces the pardoned one every year.

So, so tired.

I did indeed do to Disneyland. I spent most of the day in California Adventure, which was practically empty, then to Disneyland, then back to California Adventure, where Chad and Susan met me, then back to Disneyland. The California Screamin' roller coaster is so fun at night, though a little cold. But beware the funnel cakes. They're the worst I've ever had.

I ended up crashing at Chad and Susan's place, so we went out to breakfast at the Newport Beach pier. And then to Costco and Ikea. Alas, I didn't buy anything.

Chad lent me Battlefield 1942. It may be the best game ever. It's like Tribes 2, but set in WWII. Its hardware requirements are pretty steep, though.

Anyway, I took a three-hour nap this afternoon, and I'm still groggy. I can't wait to fall asleep...

Another exciting Friday night

I was so exhausted when I got home that I went straight to bed and slept for two hours; Andrea woke me up via instant messenger. I forgot to get change at work today for laundry, so I'll have to go to the arcade in Westwood. maybe I'll stop by Diddy Reese's for the $1 cookie-and-milk deal.

I think I'll go to Disneyland tomorrow. I could spend all day there, go to church with Chad and Susan and then go back until it closes. Or maybe I'll just go on Sunday, to both. Hopefully the Matterhorn is up and running.

The Republicans are in charge #2.

Major change is in the air for pollution rules

"The Bush administration on Friday gave 17,000 older power plants, refineries and factories greater flexibility in meeting the Clean Air Act — a move that some states planned to challenge in court."

Who You Callin' A Moron?

From the recent Canadian flap....

On Thursday, when first asked about the reported comment, Chretien said Mr. Bush was "not a moron at all, he's a friend. My personal relations with the president are extremely good."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh?

Yes, the Republicans are in charge

Government agency pulls Web site

Oxymoron of the day

From a page-one article in today's LA Times:

"...Nobuko Nakano, head of a one-person group..."

Now that's just silly. How does a single person ever constitute a "group?" And even if such a group were logically possible, how could there be a "head" with no followers? It is so hard for the nation's No. 2 newspaper to admit they're quoting a *person* rather than an official?

He's alive.

Officials: Audiotape is of bin Laden

The Golden State

I'm loving today's perfect Southern California weather.

Success!

On the third try, my Capellini Pomodoro recipe came out exactly like it's supposed to. I actually used the right amount of tomatoes, weighing them instead of just guessing how many the recipe calls for. Andrea and I thought we might be putting too much in, but it came out perfectly. We had Chad and Susan over for dinner, but forgot to cook the asparagus or prepare the olive oil / balsamic vinegar dip. Oops. Anyway, I have leftover for today and can't wait for lunch.

Overall, we had a nice weekend. We saw the IMAX version of attack of the Clones, but the picture quality was actually worse than the original. The new resolution made it easier to tell which backgrounds were real and which were digitally created still picture. And other scenes showed pixelization!

Yesterday, when Andrea and I took her Brazilian friends to Downtown Disney, I thought I'd be a big man and use my Annual Pass to get us in the parking garage for free. But they were doing free parking for some reason, so it didn't matter. Zip-a-dee-do-da.

...and step to the left

Can Pelosi pull a ‘Gingrich’?

Unfortunately, the Democrats are associating old-school liberalism with new ideas. This is one way to practically guarantee the Bushies and second term.

Gadget of the week...

Now *this* is what a cordless mouse should be.

Step to the right

This has all been said before, but one of the big reasons for the Republican route last night was Democrat's failure to inspire its constituents. After rolling over on Bush's big priorities -- the tax cut, Iraq, etc. -- and offering no centrist alternatives, they gave Democrat voters very little reason to show up to the polls. As James Carville put it, they had no message and no backbone. Here's hoping they get their act together.

Republicans near control of Congress

Aw, crap.

Republicans near control of Congress

Another reason to watch the WB...

No pesky election coverage!

Welcome to the Big Blue Bus -- now get off.

More like the Big Blue Rip-Off.

Being the concerned citizen I am, I took Santa Monica's transit system to the 3rd Street Promenade rather than taking my car. Little did I know that the last bus of the night leaves the area at 10:30 p.m. and doesn't go all the way back to Westwood. So I ended up walking a mile home. Three girls on the bus were equally surprised and yelled "I don't like you!" as the driver kicked us all off.

Anyway, it occurred to me on the walk home that there ought to be some formula for calculating the relative costs of mass transit (for the consumer) and private vehicles. I mean, my car payment, insurance and registration are fixed costs that call for maximizing vehicle usage. The question is, what are the additive costs of parking, gasoline, maintenance and hit on resale value? It's an easier case in place such as San Francisco, where parking is expensive and exasperating. And of course, as the MasterCard commercials would say, you can't put a price on not having to fit your schedule and itinerary around a bus route or mixing it up with the borderline-demented who find their way onto public transportation. I guess this is why I didn't major in math.

When technology goes bad

My roommate bought an electronic hampster today that shadow-boxes and sings the Rocky theme in a high voice. It wasn't a gift -- he bought it for himself.

Another fascinating story in IBD...

Instant Message Firms Wooing Businesses

It's my first real tech story for IBD. I'll be doing about one a week from here on out.

Back to work

The weekend was pretty fun. Andrea and I got to see a lot of our old work friends at a Haloween party and spent some time with Sarah and Geoff and their very cool new place in San Francisco.

It sounds like Andrea didn't get the job she interviewed for here. I think she was at an inherent disadvantage not living here, but to her credit, she was one of four finalists for the position. And it wasn't clear if they just couldn't afford her. The chain, like many Southern Calif. second-tier chains, is notoriously cheap.

Arrrgh!

It looks like Blogger Pro, the service I pay good money to, is eating my entries AGAIN. Anyway, I just wrote a rambling piece on my weekend. Update: the original post is above.

I want this.

.

D-Link wireless Ethernet bridge

I guess I don't really *need* it, but this really would have come in handy in San Jose when I had to string 30 feet of Ethernet cable across my apartment to hook my ReplayTV into the router. It basically makes anything with an Ethernet port able to connect to your wireless network.

Update...

Wow, it's been more than a week since my last update. I'm flying up to San Jose tomorrow to see Andrea and attend the big Halloween party on Saturday. Weekends seem so short when I travel. Last weekend was pretty fun, too. I hung out at Disneyland with Chad and Susan, and they came up to L.A. the next day to see "Punch Drunk Love" with me in Santa Monica. An odd, wonderful little movie.

Andrea finds out tomorrow whether she'll get a job offer from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune chain. I hope she gets the offer, but I'm not sure whether they'll pay her enough to make the move worthwhile.

My first real tech story should appear in Investor's Business Daily sometime in the next couple of days. It's about instant messaging in the workplace and whatnot.

Awwww, yeah....

Act Of War Hit Close To Home For Tech Firm

I guess I'll have to try them.

Actual quote from one of my roommates:

"Have you tried Fuji apples? They're the thinking man's apple."

Alternative Chains Close Papers In LA, Cleveland

Bummer, I really liked New Times. I guess I'll have to read the Phoenix edition online.

Another weekend, another move

I spent the weekend helping Andrea move into her new place. Did I mention that I hate hate HATE moving? And this weekend I get to help Chad and Susan move into their own place.

I really need to buy a house, just so I don't have to move anymore.

Coyote vs Acme

It's about time someone filed this lawsuit.

News flash!

Be sure to pick up a copy of Thursday's Investor's Business Daily. I hear there's a really cool story on page A7.

Plan B

Well it turns out Andrea has to work this weekend, so I don't get to see her. Unfortunately, they also have working the night shift more often, which can't be healthy. She sounds very tired when she calls and had an intense headache when she called this afternoon.

In other news, the Business Journal call us deperately asking for a tape of the video presentation we did last year. We're going to offer to create another copy, but charge them market rate for our time, which isn't cheap. Ah yeah....

I'm driving to Orange County tomorrow to visit Chad. We're not quite sure what the plan is, but I may end up getting my yearly Disneyland pass this month instead of next month as planned. That means I'll have to delay getting this way cool MP3 player.

One more thing...

I almost forgot: Andrea's coming this weekend! Her Brazilian friend is moving to Orange County, so she's catching a ride.

An LA moment

As I was walking through Westwood tonight to grab some basil from the grocery story and look at the cool new MuVo MP3 player at Circuit City, I passed a red-carpet Hollywood premier event for the new movie "Four Feathers." Tonight's newscast said Britney Spears showed up, but alas, I missed her.

Life in the fast lane.

Ah, it's so nice to have broadband again. Verizon may change my mostly negative view of DSL. They use a technology in which the modem connects directly into the service as if it were a persistent network -- no dial-in, passwords, PPoE, etc. Just plug and play. And it seems much faster than my San Jose service, too.

Speaking of San Jose, I visited Andrea this weekend. We went to San Francisco and took the ferry to a cute little town called Tiberon, where we ate lunch. We also had a fun dinner with our friends Sarah and Geoff. We did a make-your-own pizza and traded our creations amongst each other. At any rate, it was nice to catch up. And in the highlight of the evening, Andrea made one of the best chocolate mousses I've ever had. If I had known she was capable of this, believe me, I would have dated her much sooner.

Stop the presses

One of the section editors said that he's sending me a couple of story assignments, so I should have some bylined work to show soon.

With this being my first weekend alone and completely moved in, I’m finally getting a chance to do a more personal blog entry. My DSL still isn’t on, but at I do have an installation date (Sept. 12), so updates should reach their usual frequency soon. [Update: they turned on my DSL today.]

Anyway, things are going pretty well here. I’m really enjoying my living situation in West L.A.. Geographically speaking, my home is close to Westwood Village, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. More significant, I’ve always wanted to live somewhere that has everything within walking distance, and Westwood Village comes pretty close to that ideal. All of my favorite fast-food and casual-dining chains are in the area, along with a large grocery store, two electronics retailers and my favorite no-cost weekend haunt, Borders Books (that’s where I’m writing from now) and at least five movie theaters. The grocery store is a little pricey -- it has a captive audience of dorm-bound UCLA students -- but Safeway-owned Vons just started online delivery, which is a little cheaper, not counting delivery. If I have to pay a premium, I might as well have it delivered. The area does lack a Fry’s Electronics, however, and the nearest one is a 45-minute drive. Once you’ve adapted to Fry’s, Best Buy seems a little too much like Sears’ electronics department. Speaking of Fry’s, the one here is themed like a 1950s alien drive-in B movie, complete with a flying saucer crashed into the front of the building, huge mothership on the inside and army jeeps melted in half, presumably by some sort of death ray. Very cool.

My new job is OK. The people there are smart, funny and nice. The work is a little less challenging than I had hoped, but my immediate boss has given the nod for other editors to assign me some real stories. So here’s hoping to get my first national print byline soon…

I haven’t purchased my annual pass for Disneyland yet, and since I’ll be out of town two out of the next three weekends, I may wait until October. I hear they re-make the haunted mansion into a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme for Halloween. Chad and Susan got theirs the first day they were both out here. It actually makes more sense when you live in Orange County, though a co-worker says that getting the pass is mandatory for all Southern California residents.

Andrea’s situation is still up in the air. She isn’t being used anywhere near her full potential, and based on the experiences of co-workers, there’s little chance of her getting a full time position there anytime soon. But even that could be a good thing; it gives her an incentive to move down here. The job situation doesn’t look good in either location for graphic designers, and I’m not familiar enough with the industry to give her any useful advice. UCLA offers a graphic design certification program, and that could provide good job contacts.

As Andrea would say, aye aye aye!

Orange alert! Orange alert!

Terrorist risk level raised to ‘high’

Why the Sixth Amendment exists

Yahoo! News - Memo: al-Qaida Taught Bomb Suspect

"But the memo, written by Defense Department adviser Michael Hobbs and released Tuesday by the Justice Department states that other intelligence shows Padilla was not a member of al-Qaida and that there was no timetable for an attack.

Hobbs wrote that some of the people who informed on Padilla may have provided false information to mislead the U.S. government.

The memo was included with a government court filing in which Justice Department attorneys defended the military's detention of Padilla without trial."

I'm not saying the guy's innocent, mind you, but if John Ashcroft and George W. could strip this suspect's constitutional rights, they can take away anyone's. And the the truth is always a little more complicated than the government would have you believe.

Say my name...

From this story on Dan Rather's weird 1986 assault, I've learned that my name is slang for a confused or clueless person.

In other news, my phone is installed, but not my DSL. I tried using a dialup ISP, but apparently, the quality of my connection is just awful. I feel so isolated without an unfiltered Internet connection.

One of these kids is not like the others...

A snarky comment here would almost be redundant.

T-minus-one (day)

Did I ever mention that moving sucks? Here's my new address:

10747 Wilshire Blvd. #1103
Los Angeles, CA 90024

My new phone number, once it's installed Aug. 26 or so, will be 310-441-9767.

Chad got his job, too.

In his words: "Keep your head but we going to be neighbors again."

Ah, the irony...

Islam reading assignment draws fire

The lawsuit against UNC was filed July 22 in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., by the Virginia-based Family Policy Network, which calls itself a socially conservative Christian educational organization.

The suit contends that it is unconstitutional for a publicly funded university to require students to study a specific religion.

In light of evangelicals' support of school vouchers and insisting that the phrase "under God," (added in 1954) is now inseparable from the Pledge of Allegiance, this stance seems ironic if not hypocritical.

Eric Alterman: Altercation

An interesting historical look at the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, a bad constitutional shift that's still affecting international policy today.

Officially employed

I officially got the offer. It was a little less than I was hoping for, but a little more than I expected. I start Aug. 26. Thank goodness!

Jobs jobs jobs

I should find out in the next couple of hours whether I got the Investor's Business Daily job. In the meantime, I've gotten nibbles from the Bakersfield Californian (that's a smallish city two hours north of LA) and Bloomberg.

Andrea got a job!

Andrea got an offer from the San Jose Mercury News on Friday, after being the only candidate out of the last six who could pass a Macintosh production skills test. It's not the ideal position -- it's a non-creative, on-call, no-guaranteed-hours situation -- but it is a foot in the door of a respected daily, and more importantly, income. She plans to continue looking for a job in Southern California, but she's understandably eager to start working again.

My interview with Investor's Business Daily went pretty well, too. I regret saying one or two things, such as revealing that I didn't appreciate Orange County politics -- before knowing out the interviewer's political affiliation. But Murray seems to think I have a good shot. It turns out that getting laid off is indeed a black mark of sorts (a good manager doesn't lay off the best workers), but IBD reached some former editors I hadn't put on my list of references and got glowing reviews. I hope that mitigates the perception created when Carole and (the appropriately named) Dick laid me off. I should know by Tuesday.

And Chad thinks his interview went well, too. So maybe all four of us (including Chad's wife, Susan) will get our Disneyland wish of living in Southern Cal.

Actually, it comes in threes

Chad has an interview in Orange County Friday morning, too!

Good news comes in pairs

Andrea has an interview on Friday with the San Jose Mercury News. It's kind of a crap job (part-time, on call, hourly wages), but it is money and a foot in the door of a daily. Of course, if we both get the jobs we're applying for, we'll be working in different cities, earning wages that will make frequent trips difficult.

Hope...

Investor's Business Daily is flying me to Los Angeles this week to interview for a job compiling the newspaper's news summary page. This won't involve a lot of reporting, but it sounds like a good way to get into a daily newspaper -- national at that!

The hunt continues.

Now I'm applying for non-tech reporting positions, slowly running out of places to apply. Andrea hasn't heard back from the San Francisco, which is making her nervous. But she's applying at a bunch of different places.

Man, nothing kills a person's self-confidence like a layoff.

Fed Chief Now Blamed for Inflating Stock Bubble

Fed Chief Now Blamed for Inflating Stock Bubble

... the future may require reduced expectations for millions of Americans who staked their hope for their comfortable retirement on stocks. The average recovery time--the length of time it takes the market to return to its boom-time peak--during the big busts of the 20th century was 20 years. Those declines were 1906, 1929 and the late 1960s.

Hey, whatever happened to Bush's brilliant idea about investing Social Security funds into the stock market?

Business Journal death spiral

I apparently missed the best meeting of the year. Here's an excerpt from today's IM chat with Sarah:

spacylacy2002 (01:11:47 PM):I just read your cover letter and am typing up feedback. you missed a firework-ladden meeting today- I ran out in tears at one point- mullins was insane- tim's entire budget got shut down

spacylacy2002 (01:11:58 PM): shot down I meant

ken_brown_98 (01:12:53 PM): You're kidding.

spacylacy2002 (01:12:56 PM): no

ken_brown_98 (01:12:57 PM): What happened?

spacylacy2002 (01:13:09 PM): can you imagine ME crying? mullins said he never thought he'd see the day

ken_brown_98 (01:14:19 PM): Thyat's why I can't believe it myself.

spacylacy2002 (01:14:27 PM): It's been horrible here the last few days- you have no idea. I almost just quit this morning.

spacylacy2002 (01:14:56 PM): I'm going to have a meeting withcarole tomorrow am.

ken_brown_98 (01:15:01 PM): I wish someone had recorded the meeting.

spacylacy2002 (01:15:31 PM): I know- mullins started pressing her on why she laid you off in particular- it got really uncomfortable.

spacylacy2002 (01:15:55 PM): for some reason- sharon once again - was praising and defending all management- why does she doe that in meetings?

ken_brown_98 (01:16:30 PM): Maybe that's why she still has a job. Robert is going to get himself fired. So did Carole respond?

spacylacy2002 (01:17:50 PM): oh i'll fill you in on the whole thing tomorrow- she didn't really say much on that topic- but what really got me upset before the meeting was I walked in the door and she was like "kent wants only local breaking exclusive news on this budget and if it doesn't happen he's going to come out here and make it happen" I was like fine- we have a few empty seats.

ken_brown_98 (01:20:08 PM): Why didn't they tell everyone months ago? Even last week Carole was insisting that she was in charge and that the coverage wouldn't change. Even after we talked about the mixed signals we were getting?

spacylacy2002 (01:21:29 PM): I know- and this week my breaking news story was on five and my big picture industry story was on one- I was like "this doesn't make any sense!" and she kept trying to justify it then she admitted that I was right and she was getting mixed signals and she started to cry and said she's trying to fight for our staff but she doesn't think she can fight hard enough and that she didnt think she knew what news was anymore either- can you imagine?

ken_brown_98 (01:22:28 PM): Oh my gosh. That;'s bizzarre. It sounds like Kent was the one who didn't like my stuff.

ken_brown_98 (01:23:07 PM): That is the strangest meeting I've ever heard. I would have given anything to habve been there...

spacylacy2002 (01:23:09 PM): I don't know- she said she made the lay off decisions- but I got the impression that dick has been driving a lot of this stuff- and going through charlotte to do it

spacylacy2002 (01:23:33 PM): she said she isn't even getting the sales numbers anymore

ken_brown_98 (01:23:43 PM): Death spiral.

A Police State In Stars And Stripes

An interesting read in TOMPAINE.com about dirty bomb suspect Jose Padilla.

The other two nominal Americans nabbed thus far in the present conflict, John Walker Lindh and Yaser Esam Hambi, arguably forfeited their claim to citizenship by fighting on behalf of a foreign power. Each was captured by military forces in a combat zone.

Padilla, on the other hand, was born in Brooklyn, raised in Chicago and arrested by civilian authorities at O'Hare Airport. As we're all equal before the law, his legal status is the same as any other citizen's. If he can be forever detained by executive order without so much as a hearing before an independent magistrate, so can anybody else. When your liberty is insured solely by the goodwill and competence of those in charge, you live in a police state.

Unemployment: Day Three

Andrea, Geoff and I went back to work to pack up our personal belongings, which provided, in a sad way, closure. I wanted to cry when I unpinned from my cubicle wall a photograph Andrea had taken of me when we were in downown San Jose scouting out backdrops for our video project. It really seemed back then that we were making ourselves indespensible to the company, particularly to our publisher. From what I understand, he was the one who made the initial suggestions about who to cut.

It dawned on us afterwards that the four people affected most directly by the layoffs had frozen our spending, going so far as to start bringing our lunches, as if we unconciously knew, despite all other outward logic, that we were the ones getting the axe. Funny.

On todays agenda: I'm redoing my crappy cover letter and applying at TechTV, the Washington D.C. Business Journal, the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times. Andrea is putting together her portfolio, lookin for more leads and preparing for her interview tomorrow.

Unemployment: Day Two

I couldn't slepp at all last night, so I woke up around 6 a.m., hours before my usual wake up time -- on the one weekday I could justifiably sleep in. Andrea and I have turned her apartment into a job-seeker headquarters, where both of us have been applying for various jobs all day long.

Andrea's still sick, so she hasn't had a chance to hit the pavement in full force. Nonetheless, she has an interview this Thursday at the San Francicso Business Times. Our friend Geoff (also known as Sarah's boyfriend), who was laid off with us, is applying for the same position, and it sounds like both of them have a pretty good shot at it.

So far I've applied at Bloomberg, TheStreet.com, CBS Marketwatch, Ziff Davis' video game group, the Boston Business Journal and talked to my old editors at the Orange County Business Journal. I'm sure I'me forgetting a few. The OCBJ and I are seriously discussing my moving back to Southern California. I wanted to stay here in Silicon Valley, but unless I'm raking in the dough, there's absolutely nothing redeeming about the San Jose area. San Francisco, maybe, but that's still expensive. At least Orange County is a lifestyle upgrade. Unless Andrea gets the SF Times position, that's a really decent option. The first thing I would do is buy a season pass to Disneyland to numb the pain.

We also applied for unemployment benefits online, a nifty benefit to living in California. I don't think I could have taken standing in that joyless, stereotypical "unemployment line."

Coping with the 5 stages of grief and bereavement

I’m still processing this morning’s layoff. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out why, out of all the reporters who could have been laid off, I was the one who got the axe. My colleagues seemed just as stunned as I was; according to Sarah, Robert Mullins marched into Carole’s office afterward and launched into a diatribe about how stupid it was for her to get rid of me.

It was pretty clear from the start that the editor and publisher didn’t care for tech news. It was something they vowed to do while the sector was hot, but they never did enjoy it or even understand it. When the sector fell, my work became dispensable. That’s especially true with the paper’s shift to small-business news. Now, they’ve completely dismantled the tech team they worked so hard to recruit.

Anyway, they say that every significant loss involves five steps of grief -- I think I’m still in denial. I just can’t get myself to feel much of anything about getting laid off. Well, maybe I’m a little angry already. If that’s the case, I’m already in stage II. I’m angry that I got recruited from a job I was perfectly happy with and in an area I loved to be abandoned in this high-priced rat-hole. I’m angry that I put so much effort into this job and tried so hard to make my tech coverage stand out, only to find out too late that they couldn’t care less.

It doesn’t matter that my former editors are complete morons. A layoff is a a form of rejection, and it’s hard getting rejected by anyone, let alone someone with such influence over your standard of living.

And of course, I’m worried. I’m afraid that in this economy, I won’t be able to find another job that pays as well -- if I find a job at all.

Unbelievable.

Andrea and I both got laid off.

Layoff news

Well, Carole has finally confirmed that layoffs are a real possibility in the editorial department. She said we'd have more specifics within the week. This is bad news, but at least we're getting some clarity.

Power crisis redux

I just got a wireless notification from the state of California that we're in a stage 2 power emergency. At stage 3, the power starts going off.

Who Wants This War? - And why don't we find out before we start one?

It looks like I'm not the only one a little unnerved by Bush's unilateral declaration of war.

Michael Kinsley writes:

The eerie non-debate we're having as vast preparations for battle are made before our eyes is a consequence of a long-running constitutional scandal: the withering away of the requirement of a congressional Declaration of War. Oh, the words are still there, of course, but presidents of both parties flagrantly ignore them—sometimes with fancy arguments that are remarkably unpersuasive, but mainly by now with shrugging indifference. The result is not just a power shift between the branches of government but a general smothering of debate about, or even interest in, the decision to go to war among citizens in general.

Interesting point.

No Quick Crucifix

Speaking of church and state, here's a Slate article outlining some of the downsides to school vouchers, at least from a mainstream Christian perspective.

Visual Studio .NET

One strange thing after installing: when another application crashes there's a new "debug" option. I guess Microsoft wants me to take some share of the blame.

The New Republic Online: Pledge Class

In light of the controvery surrounding the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pledge of allegence ruling, here's an interesting counterpoint to the widespread outrage.

Just as the founders of this country rejected the idea of a king, so they rejected the idea of an official state religion. Here in the United States, religion is a personal matter, not subject to state control. And if most Americans would stop and think about it for a moment, they would agree that they prefer to keep things that way. Who really wants to have Congress writing prayers and weighing in on questions of faith?

The full article is worth considering.

Happy Independence Day!

With Andrea in Atlanta, I think I'm going to spend the next four days learning C# (the language, not the note), playing video games, catching up on reading and watching movies. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might even look for an optical connector for my DVD player.

Everything except thinking about work.

S.F. bans urinating in public

Only in San Francisco would this be controversial.

Brazil Back on Top of Soccer World

After staying up until 6 a.m. with two screaming Brazilians, I still don't understand what the big deal is about soccer.

Bush to be sedated....

CNN.com

Asked about the decision to transfer power, Bush said, "I did so because we're at war, and I just want to be super cautious."

Am I the only one irked every time he says this? When did Congress declare war?

smattering.org >> the friday five

Since all the tech companies have shut down early in anticipation of next week's "holiday," I actually have time to do the Friday Five:

When was the last time you...

1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
Years. I don't know what I'd do without e-mail and instant messaging. Luckily, most of my family is pretty tech-savvy, too, so that's how we keep in touch.

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
I made some capellini a few weeks ago -- everything was hand-prepared, except maybe the noodles. (No, I didn't squeeze out the olive oil or milk a cow for the cheese, but let's get real.)

3. ...camped in a tent?
College, I think. Not something I enjoy all that much.

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community?
This is something I need to do more. That last time was Feb. 14, when my church undertook a "kindness project" in downtown San Jose. I signed up to pass out food, but ended up on the team passing out flowers.

5. ...helped a stranger?
I helped an old woman cross the street in San Jose a few months ago, at her request. No lie. A few months before that, I helped another elderly woman get her car out of a tight parking spot. She actually trusted a complete stranger to get in her car and back it out of the parking space. We have a lot of retirees around the area I work.

Bush's lucky Enron break

Bush vows investigation into WorldCom scandal

Why is Bush so suddenly interested in a federal probe about accounting fraud? Because WorldCom contributed to Democratic candidates.

The chickens come home to roost

Bush Facing Test in Fight to Avert a Financial Crisis

Of course, he'll find a way to blame this on terrorism and not his government giveaway to the rich.

Argh.

Within minutes of my implementing the new system, it goes down. The error is completely on their end, so I can only assume it will be fixed soon.

New comment system

I added a new comment system that's easier to customize and manage. Unfortunately, that's means all of the old comments are gone forever. Easy come, easy go, I say.

Planet Replay receives a subpeona

Now the movie industry is dragging ReplayTV enthusiast-matching site Planet Replay into its lawsuit against SonicBlue. With uncertainties at the workplace, this may not be such a bad time to start boycotting movies.

Who's next?

Charmain, a secretarial-type assisant for our special events coordinator, got the pink slip today.

I don't know what to make of that. She was a part-time employee, so the move isn't going to save much money. What's even scarier is that she was plenty busy, so it wasn't like they were getting rid of deadweight or anything.

I guess I shouldn't worry about things I can't control. The only thing I can do is keep applying like crazy to other jobs.

No news is ________ news.

No big news today; Mr. Bernhard just wanted to sit in at our meeting and hear our story lists. They're really trying to shift our coverage of "hard news," or at least their very narrow definition of the term. Typically, that means news not found anywhere else -- even if that's because it wasn't a big enough deal to warrant coverage in competing publications. Needless to say, this is not the sort of thing that gets me excited -- and contradicts just about everything our editors have been telling us since we got here.

But if that's what they want, that's what I'll have to do. That sort of news is a lot easier to do, but is completely irrelevant in this market.

Dia dos Namorados

For those of you who don't know, today is Dia dos Namorados, or the Brazilian version of Valentines Day. and if you're dating a Brazilian, that pretty much makes it Valentines Day for you, too.

Closure?

Here's an excerpt from an e-mail everyone in the newsroom received this morning:

Wanted to let you know that Kent Bernhard plans to sit in on our staff
meeting tomorrow morning, via conference call.

I'd like to please ask that everyone make a special effort to get here
for a 9 a.m. sharp start time.

Kent is vice president for editorial forparent company American City Business Journals and almost never sits in on a newsroom-only meetings -- at least, he hasn't during my time here or at the Phoenix business journal.

Even if this doesn't mean layoffs or salary cuts, his presence augurs big changes for the job. On the bright side, at least we'll end the agonizing uncertainty. I'll keep you posted.

Damn dirty apes

Police hunt 'criminal' chimp
World domination always begins with a few minor burglaries.

Perhaps I was a bit too hasty...

It turns out the parking snafu was an adminstrative mistake brought on by our accounting system going down last week. It's fixed now, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. Stay tuned...

More photos

These are from our trip to Napa last weekend.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

It may be worse than we thought. Today when I left the parking garage, I and other Business Journal employers discovered that our employer has not paid the monthly parking garage fee.

Sarah L. had to complain loudly to get her reimbursement check, which hadn't been paid in nearly three weeks.

And Andrea overheard an editor asking our payroll department why a freelancer hasn't been paid.

Those are the types of things business reporters look for when trying to determine whether a company is about to go under.

Trillian is back!

Trillian has finally fixed a minor but annoying bug with Yahoo Messenger, which means I'm once again universally connected to all the IM services at once. Woo-hoo!

(Yes, I am a geek.)

Suit filed over ReplayTV features

Well it's nice to know that someone is looking after my rights as a consumer.

Six months...

It's official -- Andrea and I have been dating for six months now. Happy semi-anniversary, sweetie!

Apple bites

I've never really been a big partisan when it comes to operating systems; I championed the Mac operating system in the 1980s and still use one regularly at work. At the same time, I have the lastest versions of Windows XP in my laptop and home PCs. As far as I'm concerned, people should use whichever operating system feels right for them and lets them do the things they want to do.

But it really irks me when some igorant Mac user -- particularly one who doesn't know much about computers to begin with -- starts popping off about how superior his beloved Apple is. I'm talking about the little smirks when a Windows machine crashes (because as we all know, Apples NEVER crash -- I reboot my iMac twice a day for the fun of it), the snarky comment when a Web news outlet issues a new Windows virus alert (like most software developers, virus writers ignore the Macintosh) and the clicking tongues when Microsoft attracts more antiturst scrutiny (Steve Jobs, apparently, is not a control freak who wants to control every aspect of computer from hardware to software to retail experience).

Every system has its strengths and weaknesses, and people will naturally have different opinions about the best system for them. But why do Apple users have a fervor unmatched in the Windows world? Because when you're in the majority, you don't have to be so defensive.

Buying a Mac doesn't just mean paying more for your computer. Buying a Mac means you're stuck with one vendor for your machine, the operating system, nearly all of the software and most connected peripherals. So this is freedom from a monoploy? Buying a Mac means having to adjust the memory allocation for each application separately. This is user friendliness? Buying a Mac means having to make sure your printer fonts match the ones installed on your computer. This is simplicity?

Don't get me wrong. Apple makes some elegant, brilliant computers and software. That's something that no single company in the Windows world has yet duplicated, simply because of the split hardware/software nature of the PC arena. And OS X is a nice operating system, pretty to look at and rock solid to use. But I, like 97 percent of computer buyers, want choice. I like choosing from dozens upon dozens of different computer systems, made possible becuse Microsoft embraced the concept of licensing the operating system. I like being able to find software for almost every whim, made possible because users flocked to the idea of a low-cost PC and created a wide audience for Windows developers -- who in turn created a vast array of software. I like having a wide array of peripherals that extend the life of my machine and make it more useful over time.

So you like your new Apple iBook? Good for you. It's a well-designed machine, and is probably worth its premium price.

But for most of us, the world is a lot bigger than four computer models, or for that matter, a single PC manufacturer. Isn't that what Thinking Different is all about?

Crap, crap crap

Well, the bad news is filtering in. Both of the editors in that videoconference look extremely upset, and I just heard that our sunscription levels have fallen nearly 30 percent in the last year. This is not good.

Dun-dun-dunnnnnn.

Our publisher and all of our editors are meeting with one of the corporate guys from our Charlotte headquarters. This can't be good.

Reading tea leaves

Our publisher announced some mid-year "budget revisions" yesterday that everyone here is interpreting as "layoffs." I'm not worried about getting let go myself, but I do worry about Andrea for a variety of reasons. Sure, she's among the most talented graphics people here, but this office isn't exactly run in a logical way.

I'm more worried about having to take a salary cut, which would really stink in this area. At any rate, I'm posting my resume on HotJobs this weekend to see whetherI get any bites.

Will game makers' universe expand as prices contract?

How cool is this? My video game story appeared on the regular business news section of MSNBC. Woo-hoo

It's a small world...

Here are the Disneyland photos!

That was easy...too easy.

OK, comments appear to be working again...

Comment system upgrade

YACCS has upgraded its comment system, rendering my old code dysfunctional. (One of the major drawbacks of Web services). I'm working on some fixes and hope to have comments back online soon.

Top story again!

My video game story made it to the top of the MSNBC local news page this week... Woo-hoo!

Happiest place on earth?

Well, here I am in Orange County. Yesterday we went to Disneyland. We meant to go the entire 14 hours, but were so exhausted by 10 p.m. that we had to go back to the hotel. I guess we're all just getting old. We'll have some "before and after" pictures up on the Web site soon.

Today, Chad and Susan are going to Magic Mountain while Andrea and I go to California Adventure. Chad is more gung-ho on the rides at Magic Mountain, but Andrea's not much of a roller coaster person, so we figured it would be easier to split up for the day. I actually like the complete Disneyland experience -- the shops, the thematic details, etc. -- so the idea of Magic Mountain never really thrilled me. (I did want to ride that new roller coaster, The Goliath, though.) We're planning to take today a lot slower, meandering around the park rather than going from ride to ride. Hopefully we won't be as tired. California Adventure is a much smaller park, too, so we'll probably be able to see more of it.

I think this trip is going to hot my wallet pretty hard. I forgot how quickly everything adds up. But I'd say the experience is well worth the money.

Meet Frankenchicken

Naked chicken may ruffle feathers

This is weird...

Because a simple hijacking would have been OK...

Rice: Pre-Sept. 11 alert too general

WASHINGTON, May 16 — The Bush administration chose not to tell the public about a potential al-Qaida threat to hijack airliners a month before Sept. 11 because it did not want to risk shutting down civilian aviation “for very general warnings,” national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

...

Rice repeated the administration’s insistence that the al-Qaida information referred only to a general threat from bin Laden involving jetliners. She said Bush and U.S. intelligence did not know that suicide hijackers were specifically plotting to use planes as missiles, as they did against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

Make that 5.2

Shake, shake, shake

I just experienced my second Northern California earthquake, the first since I moved here. Apparently, it was centered in Gilroy and measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. I'm fine.

Enron memos detail Calif. schemes

Enron memos detail Calif. schemes

Ah, so Enron DID benfit from energy policy. And this was while the conservatives were blaming California for last year's blackouts.

Ah, yeah. Top story on the MSNBC local news page. I did work hard on that story.

Carmel By-the-Sea

Andrea and I took a fun little day-trip to Carmel By-the-Sea today to relax and test out her new Minolta Dimage 7. Anyway, you can see the photos here.

Pollution battle moves to the states

One of the few reasons to love Califonia.

Little Jesus Dolls

This is wrong on so many levels.

The Empire Bounces Back

Let's hope this one is better than Phantom Menance. Double for the video games based on it.

CNN.com - Mr. Elmo goes to Washington

The apocalypse has arrived.

FDA panel backs nonprescription Claritin

Sweet!

Melee closes down theme park

The one day I decide to go to our crappy little excuse for a theme park, a riot breaks out. Sarah, Jeff and I got out minutes before the fun really began, but we did have several -- yes, several -- verbal run-ins with line-jumpers affiliated with the step-dance competition.

Come Home, McCain - The Washington Monthly and New Republic are right: McCain should run for president as a Democrat.

Interesting....

I just got out of jury duty, which is a big relief, since I came within one juror of being selected. (Here, potnetial jurors are questioned in groups, a process that stops when all 12 jurors plus one alternate have been selected.

It was actually kind of nice to not have to show up for work on deadline day. But it also means that I had only two stories in this weeks paper...

Researchers find 3,600-mile ant supercolony

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Woo-hoo! Off to the beach!

Study suggests how a pill could build muscles

I got really excited about this story until my girlfriend reminded me that "it's not a belly pill."

Darn, it looks like the Friday Five site is down today.

I know, I know. It's been a few days. I've been busy with another video project for church, which I needed to have ready to show today. I hope the folks in charge don't need any changes, because I was looking forward to spending Saturday in Santa Cruz at the beach.

In other news, our editor told us this morning that she'll be undergoing agressive cancer treatment. It sounds liek she'll be fine, but she'll lose her hair in the course of treatment, which must be weird. It was the first time I've ever seen one of my bosses cry.

Iran joins call for oil embargo

Yet another reason to push higher fuel standards.

Happy Easter, everyone!

My roommate got me a very sweet Easter card and a plastic egg filled with jelly beans and a certificate for Jamba Juice. Of course, this makes me look like a creep since I didn't get her or anyone else a thing for Easter.

Oh well, as she always says: "It's OK; you're a guy."

Here's a really cool group e-mail I got a few days ago from my friend Lisa. I never considered turning 30 a big deal, but I thought Lisa has some pretty insightful things to say here. And it reminded me how fortunate I am to have journalists as friends...

The big Three-Oh (No!)

....OR

Not going gently into the good night, czech style

This morning, March 26, I officially stopped clinging to the phrase “young adult;” ceased to be in that prized 18-29 demographic that gets all the cool test marketing gigs; and morphed into someone shifty, according to those even older folks who were alive in the 60s. (weren’t they the ones who said you should never trust anyone over 30?!)

So I’ve officially finished the first day of my fourth decade. Please send over-the-hill jokes, hair colorants and Depends undergarments. As well as the guide to how Early Bird specials work, and instructions on how to drive a mini-van. And DON'T remind me that at this age, Mozart only had five years of life left.

Actually, I haven’t really been fretting too much about this milestone, as it doesn’t feel that much different than 29. I certainly don’t *feel* as ancient as this age used to sound. Twenty-six, when you were officially closer to 30 than 20, smacked of much more calamity. Still, you just can’t escape the fact that no matter what, 30 comes with all this weird emotional baggage, no matter who you are, what you’re doing and what kind of lifestyle you’ve chosen. You’re supposed to have some things figured out by 30. I think we all do, to an extent, but you can’t help but wonder if it’s the right things…

I’ve decided all you can do is keep your sense of humor. A wonderful cousin who also recently turned 30 reminded me of this.

Was it brutal? I asked Jennifer of her passage to the no-longer-young side. “Puhleeze,” she says. “It’s so silly how people go around worrying about how old they are. Or saying they’re younger than they are. I go around saying I’m older than I am. I mean, for a 30-year-old, I look alright, but for a 37-year-old, I look hot!” (For the record, Jennifer looks pretty fabulous for a 30-year-old, too.)

Anyway, I do believe she’s right. It’s all how you choose to frame it. They say the 30s are supposed to be the decade when you come into your own. When you’ve established yourself; gone thru some trial and error to find your path, or at least a decent one. You’re supposed to have exchanged idealism for a more realistic picture of how the world works, and what you can accomplish in it. You’re finally considered wise enough to serve in Congress, and are even a desirable candidate to lead services on Jewish high holidays. (!) Apparently, one of the criteria in Jewish doctrine is to seek someone over 30, “because a 30-year-old has been humbled and broken-hearted, and can thus sincerely ‘pray from the heart.’"

Though I still like to believe I could do anything I wanted if I set my mind to it, it is true that, after my jading 20s (ha!), I’ve come to accept that some childhood dreams will probably never come to pass. They include: becoming president of the United States (yes, I realize this was a long shot, and that these few years out of the country has drastically torpedoed my chances!); dancing as a ballerina; and making an appearance on the Johnny Carson show as the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Ambassador (this one is actually in writing from the sixth grade!) I also probably will never figure out how to repopulate the wilds of China with panda bears, nor will I ever pull together that penguin pool for the backyard…(considering I’ve not yet *had* my own backyard…)

Speaking of backyards, there's these, I don't know, THINGS the world tells you you should be doing by now. Things like owning a single piece of furniture besides the papasan chair I recently sold; ascending some ladder some place; buying a house with the money from the ladder; and meeting a nice young man who will fix things in the house. (among other things...) And some nights, when I lose touch with my gut and my perspective -- like last night when I stayed up thinking about all this till 4 am -- I start to wonder if I’m off track.

But I was reminded by a wonderful friend in Prague today, that though life is short, it is also long, and there is plenty of time for such things if those of us exploring other options decide we *do* want to give them a try. And that we will appreciate them that much more -- they will be richer and sweeter -- for having taken this time to explore, seek adventures, and see what life looks like OFF the merry-go-round for a moment. Or maybe in building a whole different type of merry-go-round.

And anyway, there are still PLENTY dreams to tackle to in the next 30 years. I’m putting “weaseling my way into being the token white girl in a gospel choir” at the top of the list. I look forward to checking in with you at 60.

And being like a fine bottle of wine.

G’nite,

Lisa

Here's this week's Friday Five:

1. If you could eat dinner with and "get to know" one famous person (living or dead), who would you choose?
Abraham Lincoln, still the greatest U.S. persident.

2. Has the death of a famous person ever had an effect on you? Who was it and how did you feel?
Not really, but one of the few famous people I was sad to see die was comedian Phil Hartman, one of the funiest and most industrious actors of the 1990s. He starred in one of the funiest shows ever, News Radio, and made frequent appearances on The Simpsons among others.

3. If you could BE a famous person for 24 hours, who would you choose?
Conan O'Brien. Talk about a dream job.

4. Do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? Who?
People have said Iook like Ethan Hawk and Jim Carey, which is odd since they don't even resemble each other.

5. Have you ever met anyone famous?
I once had dinner with a small group of people that included italian singer Andrea Bocelli, but he didn't seem too happy to see me. (Rimshot) I'll be in town all week, folks! Tell your friends about the show! Seriously, I really did have dinner with him.

Well here we are in Arizona. The fist night went well, and Andrea liked the Orange Blossom smell of Arizona spring.

It's here! Now I need to buy a wireless Ethernet bridge.

UPS Package Tracking
Status: In Transit
Scheduled Delivery: Mar 21, 2002
Shipped to: SAN JOSE, CA, US
Shipped or Billed on: Mar 18, 2002

That's right, folks. My ReplayTV should be here in a matter of minutes! I hope it's worth it. If I had known they were shipping it from Tempe, I would have just picked it up this weekend.

After nearly two years of banging my head against a wall, searching Microsoft's "knowledge base," scouring the newsgroups, upgrading twice and seriously contemplating deleting all my credit card account information and starting over, I've finally solved an extremely annoying problem with Microsoft Money.

The issue: despite setting my total monthly debt payments at a healthy, serious-about-paying-off-my-debt figure every month, my debt reduction planner was scheduling the minimum payments, which according to its own projections would extend the payments out through the year 2013, and then pay off the cards in one ridiculous lump-sum of $5,000 or so at the end. Obviously, the planner should have allocated my full intended monthly payment amount among the credit cards to pay the total off in a few years. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the stupid thing to work right, and just guessed the payments myself every month. This is not a good idea for English majors, by the way.

The solution: I deleted my Macy's account, which had been acting weird and showed a credit, though I had not updated activity with Money for months (it's an Enron-style off-budget account). Problem solved; it's allocating the monthly payment just fine now.

While I didn't actually work on the issue continuously, I did keep looking for a solution every few months for at least two years. Finally, I feel like I've accomplished something great, when I should have just switched home-banking applications. Microsoft should thank its lucky stars that I liked the automatic online banking features so much, or the company would be $20 poorer. And then where would it be?

Senate passes campaign finance measure

Wow, this is big. I can't believe it passed.

I just got off deadline and feel like I've just gotten over college finals or something. Writing all day can really wear a person out.

Here are the Monterey pictures!

Is the weekend over already? I visited Monterey for the first time on Saturday and saw the real Cannery Row made famous by the John Steinbeck novel of the same name. I suppose "real" is relative there, since it's a tourist attraction now and every other building is a Steinbeck memorial. But it was pretty cool. I'll post pictures later today.

This week's Friday Five:

1. What's your favorite animal?
Dogs are great. I don't own one now, but I'd love to get one someday when I have my own house. Pardon the cliche, but there's no more loyal animal. If you're talking about exotic animals, lions and kangaroos are pretty cool, too.

2. What pets have you had in your lifetime?
Just the usual collection of housepets: Dogs, cats, a cockateel, hampsters, rabbits, a pony, a snake, a ferrit, 28 Polish chickens and four pigs named after family members.

3. Is there any specific pet that you've wanted but never had? Why?
Monkeys, because they're so facinatingly human-like. It's weird to see such intelligence in an animal.

4. Are you allergic to any animals?
Definitely cats and probably dogs, too. When ever I go to Goeff and Sarah's apartment (they have a large collection of feline misfts), I start sneezing uncontrolably. But maybe Claritin solves that problem. I'll have to conduct an experiment.

5. Do you have any 'pet' pet peeves (your pets or others')?
Cat pee. That stench is nearly impossible to remove once it's set in something.

Re-freakin-posted from earlier today, after Blogger deleted my post in the middle of editing it.

This week's Friday Five:

1. What's your favorite animal?
Dogs. Excuse the cliche, but dogs are the most loyal and loving animals around. Sure, it's more a case of bred instinct than true love, but what's the practical difference? In fact, one could argue that instict is more constant than fickle emotion. (No, this is not a sly reference to my wonderful girlfriend, just a general observation.)

2. What pets have you had in your lifetime?
Oh, the usual. Dogs, cats, hamsters, turtles, rabbits, a cockateel, a ferrit, a pony, a snake, 28 polish chickens and four pigs named after family members.

3. Is there any specific pet that you've wanted but never had? Why?
I think monkeys are pretty cool. There's so fascinatingly human-like. It's just so intriguing to see such intelligence in an animal.

4. Are you allergic to any animals?
Definitely cats and probably dogs. Everytime I go to Geoff's and Sarah's apartment (they have quite a collection of feline misfits), I fall into an uncontrollable sneezing fit. But maybe Claritin solves that problem. I'll have to conduct an experiment.

5. Do you have any 'pet' pet peeves (your pets or others')?
Cat pee. That stench is nearly impossible to remove once it's in something.

I can't believe Blogger deleted my last, long post. CRAP!!

My Yahoo! for Ken_brown_98

I got my shoes shined after lunch today, and now my cubicle smells like I've been sniffing paint all day.

Deep Breath

My roommate came home last night to say her boss photocopied a story I did a few weeks ago about Web services and distributed it to the people who work under him. It's nice to know that people in the industry are reading your stuff and taking it seriously.

Salon.com Comics | This Modern World

Another good one from Tom Tomorrow.

CNN.com - September 11 Memorial

CNN has created a simple but dignified September 11 memorial. It lists all the names, ages, hometowns, employers and locations of the more than 3,000 victims of that horrible morning, most of them with pictures. It's a reminder of why we're in Afghanistan.

Yet another Friday Five:

1. What makes you homesick?
The cold weather here in Northern California. Granted, it's not East Coast cold, but Arizona is one of the most consistently warm and sunny areas anywhere.

2. Where is "home" for you? Is it where you are living now, or somewhere else (ie: Mom & Dad's house, particular state/city)?
Without a doubt, the Phoenix, Arizona area. I've never lived anywhere longer, and it's still the only place I've seen change over the years. But at the same time, I really miss the beaches and culture of Southern California.

3. What makes it home for you? People? Things?
A little bit of both. The distinguishing environment also plays a big role -- the scenery, climate even the roads and buildings. And of course, the memories associated with all of those.

4. Where is the furthest you've been from home, miles-wise?
I've hardly been anywhere, but I've visited Costa Rica, which according to Internet distance calculators is 2407 miles from Phoenix. But interestingly, New York is actually farther from my current home in San Jose, California at 2558 miles. I need to get out more

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
I really want to see Todd Solondz' movie, Storytellers. Other than that, nothing much.

Ford to sell hybrid-powered SUV

This looks interesting. Now let's see if Ford can find a way to think up an SUV name that doesn't start with the letter "E."

I'm watching the HBO Monica Lewinsky special (I swore I wouldn't), and have to say how interesting it all is in this post-Sept. 11 world. It's so interesting that we bombed an Al-Queida training camp during this whole mess. What seems more important now?

It's been a few days, but I'm happy to report that I'm finally better. Apparently this hell I've been through is all allergy-related. The doctor gave me some Claritan and so far, it's really working well.

I spent last night in a roomful of Republicans (yes, they do exist in California) covering the election. Conservative Bill Simon beat moderate Richard Riordan for the GOP nomination, assuring a victory for Democrat incumbent Gray Davis, who actually helped Simon win with TV ads attacking Riordan. You gotta love politics.

I did something today I may end up regretting: I ordered a ReplayTV. It costs $700, so I won't be buying anything gadget-related for the next few months. I think it'll be worth it, though.

Here's this week's Friday Five (a couple of hours early, even):

1. What's your favorite vacation spot?
I haven't been to a lot of "vacation spots," but one memorable trip I took was to Costa Rica. My traveling companions and I did pretty much all the things you can possibly do in a week there -- volcanos, beaches, rainforests and of course, monkeys.

2. Where do you consider to be the biggest hell-hole on earth?
Besides San Jose, California? Ha ha, just kidding. Sort of. My final answer is Catoosa, Oklahoma, where I spent the worst few months of my life. I understand the place is a well-manicured big golf-course community now.

3. What would be your dream vacation?
A summer traveling through Europe, as if I were a college student again.

4. If you could go on a road-trip with anyone, who would it be and why?
I guess I'd better say my girlfriend, Andrea. I generally don't like road trips, but that would be a good way of knowing someone in a hurry. You deal with stress, irritating habits, sharing, compromise and money all in one setting.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
The girls at work are having their monthly poker night, so Jeff (Sarah's boyfriend) and I are going to see a few movies at Cinequest. The event wraps up this weekend, and I'm sad to say I've only seen a handful of films. On the bright side, most of the ones I've seen are are decent, and if you add up all the good films I've seen so far, I'm already ahead of last year's film festival. Anyway, Saturday night we celebrate Andrea's birthday, which actually occurs on Sunday. But maybe it really is Saturday, when you take into account the time difference between here and Brazil. At any rate, I suppose I'll spend part of Friday shopping for a gift. Or maybe I'll just put it off until Saturday.

Yahoo! News - 'We've got work to do' on image with Muslims, Bush says

Though a majority, 67%, said the terror attacks Sept. 11 were morally unjustifiable, a significant minority, 15%, disagreed. Only 18% of those polled in six Islamic countries said they believed Arabs carried out the attacks. U.S. officials said all 19 hijackers were Arabs.

You're kidding me -- only 67 percent of Middle East Muslims think the WTC attack is morally unjustifiable? Suddenly, I don't give a crap what our "allies" in that region think of us.

GOP unlikely to filibuster campaign bill

Can it really be this close to passing?

Pearl Case Defense Lawyer Prefers Trial in U.S.

Because we're so unfair here, and all.

Salon.com News | Bush renews campaign for Arctic oil
President Bush on Saturday renewed his campaign to open an Arctic refuge to oil exploration, contending that drilling is essential to national security and job creation.

National security? Mr. President, even you can milk things only so much before the teat becomes dry.

I went with Sarah to the Cinequest film festival opening last night. Despite having "platinum" press passes, we got there late and got stuck in the second row of the theater. Before the movie started, we were talking in our usual loud way about the movie's star/director, Mike Binder, agreeing that we both hate his HBO show, Mind of the Married Man. Anyway, when they asked him to come to the front of the auditorium to make some opening comments, we realized to our embarrassment that he had been sitting directly in front of Sarah the entire time up to that point. We laughed, and continued to talk about how much we hate the show. Then Binder introduced his co-star in the movie, Sonya Walger, who also stars in the HBO series. As she got up to speak, we realized she had been sitting in front of me the whole time. True story.

This week's Friday Five:

1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well?
Cancer, and I don't believe any astrological sign fits very well. Come on, its the 21st century. Isn't voodoo passe?

2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received?
A stupid clock thing I got last year from my employer. Office gifts are always crappy -- the employee gift budget is too low to get anything nice, and co-workers (usually managers) are too pressed for time to get something creative.

3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?
Probably my first computer, an Atari 600 XL.

4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far?
For my 30th birthday, my friends hosted a "trailer-trash ball" party. It was very fun and touching. So naturally, I moved away a few months later.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
The annual San Jose Cinequest Film Festival has officially begun, so I'll be seeing lots and lots of movies for the next two weeks. I'm hoping to find a couple of gems among the loads of crap that couldn't find a first-tier distributor. And Sunday, I pick up Andrea from the airport!

Missing reporter dead

Bastards.

Here I am, waiting for V.P. Cheny to speak. I couldn't be more bored.

After Canada’s tie, Gretzky loses it

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Feb. 18 — Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky lashed out Monday at critics of his Olympic hockey team, saying other countries — especially the United States — revel in Canadian failure.

He says that like it's a bad thing.

If you're not following the big debate oncampaign finance reform, you ought to. I'll be amazed if this bill makes it through the process intact. And though I'm a big fan of campaign finance reform, I have to agree with some Republican critics who say the ban on television ads within 60 days of an election is probably unconstitutional. But equating campaign contributions to free speech? Pu-leeeze.

Whatever you do, don't rename a JPEG file as a *.pif, even if you just want to see what the heck the "pif" format refers to. Trust me.

Still sick, so I didn't go to church today. I think I'm going to sleep most of today and maybe catch up on some reading.

I just took Andrea to the airport and now I am feeling sick again. I think I've actually been sick all week but too busy to notice. Now I will get some sweet, sweet sleep. ZZZZZzzzzzzz...

Here's my very late Friday Five:

1. What was the first thing you ever cooked?
I have no idea, but in 7th grade everyone had to take both home economics and shop (quite a gender-progressive requirement in the heart of the Bible Belt, Oklahoma), meaning all the girls had shop class and all the boys had home economics at least one semester. Anyway, this is where I learned to cook. The only thing I can remember actually making, though, was a V-shaped cookie in a desperate attempt at extra credit in geography class, taught by Mr. Victor or Vickson, or some other V-named instructor. I did get the extra credit, but that didn't help my grade much. I aced home economics, though.

2. What's your signature dish?
Spaghetti. Ah, yeah.

3. Ever had a cooking disaster? (tasted like crap, didn't work, etc.) Describe.
The "Great Chocolate Chex Experiment." In theory, it sounded great -- I love Rice Chex cereal, I love Hershey's chocolate syrup. Why not combine them into something doubly delicious? The actual product was a disaster.

4. If skill and money were no object, what would make for your dream meal?
Capellini Pomodoro, which I understand takes only a little bit of skill and a little bit of money. I really ought to learn how to cook.

5. What are you doing this weekend?
I'm starting the Friday Five so late that my weekend has already started. I went shopping with my girlfriend -- she spent $138 at Walgreen's alone -- and we went out for dinner at a Greasy Tony's-type place in downtown Sunnyvale. Tomorrow I take her to the airport for her week-long trip to Brazil, and I suppose I spend the rest of the weekend pre-girlfriend style: back to Fry's and Barnes & Noble. I'm sure they've missed me.

An excellent proposal for a Sept. 11 memorial. Slate wrote a piece on it, but other than that, I've seen nothing in the media about this.

CNN.com - Alert issued for potential teddy bear bombs

If you receive this bear for Valentine's Day, you may want to re-evaluate your relationship. (Thanks to Chad for this item.)

Heinz launches chocolate fries

I love progress.

Star Wars Galaxies - Official Site

I may have found my new favorite game. I hope this comes out soon.

‘Highest alert’ after FBI warning

It's just after midnight Wednesday morning and still no attack. I guess we'll have to go back to reporting on the Olympics and Enron.

Be on the lookout for these men.

I was sick today, so I stayed home, sleeping and watching TV. I think I'll be able to go to work tomorrow, but man, it sure was nice staying home for the day. I still have so much work to do this week...

Here's my Friday Five. It's a semi-risque Valentine's Day set of questions, and like several other participants, I'm exercising my right to pass on a couple of them:

1. What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for someone else?
I've written plenty of silly songs for girls I had crushes on, serenading them with my limited guitar-playing skills. That's too many songs, and too few chords.
2. [pardon the Cosmo question] What are your erogenous zones?
Chest and neck. And the usual manly places.
3. How old were you the first time you had sex? Care to expound?
N/A
4. What's the most unusual place you've ever had sex?
N/A
5. Do you have plans for Valentine's Day or is it just another Thursday?
Actually, this is the first Valentine's Day I've had a girlfriend, as far as I can remember. Since she reads this Web site regularly, I won't reveal what the evening has in store. Disclaimer: Due to my Valentine's Day inexperience, I'm asking for special leniency if my activities are insufficiently romantic.

OK, here's what I wanted to write about last night:

I've never seen such a black-white contrast in the way we business reporters are treated by big tech companies than I have in the last two days. On Tuesday, I went to Nvidia's launch event for its new GeForce 4 processors, where we press got the royal treatment. We got a big show at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, were well fed and liquored up, and even got a goodie bag that included a pretty nice sport jacket.

The next day, I went to PalmSource, where I and other journalists were told that we could have only Expo passes because "there are limited press resources." When I explained that I didn't need access to the press room, only the keynote talks, the registration officials wouldn't budge. And judging from the nonexistent lines, there was no way those keynotes were anywhere close to full. Needless to say, the event didn't get any coverage from the Business Journal. Actually, neither the the Nvidia event. So I suppose it doesn't matter.

Anyway, here's my first impression of the GeForce 4 graphics chips: they're good, but I wouldn't recommend buying them just yet. They're not completely DirectX 8 compliant, most games won't even begin to use their most advance features for a year, and there should be some pretty nice bargains on the GeForce 3 cards now. Also, the low-end GF4s don't perform much better than the bargain-basement GF2s).

So very, very tired. I have much to write, but I'll have to save it for later...

Alright, Fox News, what have you done with the real Greta Van Susteren?

CNN.com - Man convicted in wife's killing wants state to pay for sex change

"He claims in a lawsuit that the corrections department is violating his civil rights and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment by refusing to provide treatment for his gender identity disorder. He said he suffers continuous depression, anxiety and a high level of stress as a result of being denied treatment."

Are those symptoms consistent with simply being in prison?

‘Sesame Street’ gets a makeover

They're dumbing down Sesame Street! Please help me organize a consumer boycott to urge the letters P and L and the number 5 to withdraw their sponsorship of the show.

Salon.com Comics | This Modern World

Another good one.

Here's my very first Friday Five:

1. Have you ever had braces? Any other teeth trauma?
I only wish my family could have afforded braces. Sometimes I mull over whether to get them now, but adults always -- and I mean always -- look silly in them. Maybe I can get those invisible kind.

2. Ever broken any bones?
No.

3. Ever had stitches?
Nope, no stitches, either. I'm unbreakable. Well, I once had to go to the emergency room for kidney stones. That's pain, my friends.

4. What are the stories behind some of your [physical] scars?
I have a weird mystery scar on my chin. No one from my family can explain it, though I do wonder if it had anything to do with an accident I barely remember from early childhood -- some kid riding a bicycle ran into me as I was walking down the sidewalk. Dismissed as...coincidence!

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?
Friday night: Barnes & Noble woo-hoo! I'm a wild man!
Saturday: Don't know for sure, but it will probably involve Fry's Electronics.
Sunday: Church, Evita (the musical), and maybe some Super Bowl action.
That's right, folks. Having a girlfriend has not changed my weekends in the least.

Well, here I am at the fourth Web services conference I've attended in the last three weeks. As big as this concept is going to be, I'm getting a little sick of listening to all of this...

Taliban Prisoners Plead To Go to Cuba

Amnesty International: what is it you were saying about our treatment of the captured terrorists?

Freshette ®

Who says girls can't aim?

CNN.com - GAO to sue White House over energy notes - January 30, 2002

Anticipating a court battle, Bush said Tuesday, "Bring it on."

Hey, Mr. President: this ain't Texas. So leave your six-shooter at home.

Anyway, nice to see Bush isn't letting his ego or covert partisanship cloud his judgement.

Enron memo lobbied Cheney on price caps

The plot thickens.

Another out-of-control Bush kid:

President Bush's Niece Arrested on Drug Charge

Another Enron cartoon.

New Republic's Longtime Owner Sells Control to 2 Financiers

This is probably the worst news I've heard all day, with the possible exception of my girlfriend getting hit by a truck at lunch (she's fine -- more on the incident later). The moderate-left publication is being sold to a partnership that includes at least one arch-conservative. Quoting from the Times article:

"Diehard liberals often complain, of course, that The New Republic has gradually shifted to the right over the years. But the transaction nonetheless marks a break with the venerable magazine's history. At least one new owner, Mr. Hertog, is a prominent patron of conservative organizations, as chairman of the Manhattan Institute and a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute. And the new partners have stirred questions among readers and contributors about both The New Republic's future and about Mr. Peretz's reasons for selling two-thirds of the magazine."

KPCC - KPCC Reveals President Bush Has A Heart Arrhythmia

Pretzels, huh?

In case you're wondering, the post below is for a story I'm working on. We needed a screenshot to show how it works, so I had to type some filler text.

I'm using the new Blogger Pro, which allows me to make quick updates to my Web site. Thank goodness I don't have to format text, edit HTML, or perform cumbersome FTP uploads.

Best of all, I can create a running commentary on my Web site from any Web broswer -- or even my Internet-connected phone.

With the Pro version, I can check my spelling, use formatting shortcuts, add links, upload photos and more.

Here's a link to my favorite site. Should I post now? Or sometime later today. I should probably make a draft of this and send it later. Or maybe I can finish it and have the site updated later. So many choices, so many features, so little time...

Yahoo! News - Cheney: Won't Turn Over Energy List

Hmmmm, I wonder why he won't turn over this list. Could it be related to the largest corporate implosion in U.S. history and its hand-in-hand relationship to Republican energy policy?

I've upgraded to the new BloggerPro, so expect more pictures with posts soon!

Oh wait, we do.

Enron-o-Rama: From Scandal to Spectacle By Rob Walker

Ex-Enron vice chair commits suicide

Keeping in mind that this guy was an internal whistle-blower, where are all the Vince Foster-era presidential conspiracy theorists now? Man, I wish we Democrats had a kooky religious fringe.

I had to sit in a room full of Republicans this week to help out our political reporter (the first GOP gubernatorial debate) and was reminded again why I despise the GOP. Of course, the leading Republican candidate, former LA mayor Richard Riordan, would be a Democrat if he were running in Arizona. If you think CEO's of tech startup companies crave media attention, get within 50 feet of a campaign event with a notepad in your hand.

And while I'm on the topic of angry mobs: if you think Mormons and Scientologists are cults, try offending Apple fans. This was just one of a flood of angry letters over this story. Can you find the offensive paragraph? (That's a trick question: the letter-writers were offended by the paragraph we forgot to include, one equating Steve Jobs with God.)

How, in the name of everything that is good and holy, did this nut-job get his own show?

TNR Online | The Real Enron Scandal by the Editors

Once again, policy does matter.

Woo-hoo! Off to San Francisco again!

TNR Online | Recount by Jonathan Chait

A well-reasoned argument for a repeal of Bush's tax-cut plan.

It looks like the war honeymoon is over;

Simple Gifts - How Bush's shallowness makes him a good war president. By Jacob Weisberg

Also, see item below...