Yahoo! News - French Fries Get New Name in Congress

Oh, brother.

Weekend on the Coast

I spent the day in Santa Monica, mostly at the Third Street Promenade. I finally got around to reading this month’s Dwell and Wired, both of which were pretty interesting. Dwell focused on affordable but well-designed housing, which, because I am a person of momodest means, piqued my interest.

This weekend I took the plunge and ripped most of my CD collection to the computer. It’s just nice to have all my music in one place and easily accessible (I download a lot of MP3s and subscribe to the legal online music outlet, Pressplay, so this is more of an issue than it sounds). In the process I came to appreciate Microsoft’s Media Player version 9. It automatically creates different folders for each artist and album and even creates an icon of the album cover. This works for ripped, downloaded and subscription music alike. Nice.

My bowling team (yes, I’m in a league) lost our No. 1 ranking last week after loosing three games in a row. In my defense, I was getting over a backache brought on from a game two weeks prior. The rest of my team will have to come up with their own excuses.

Someone here at Barnes and Noble just asked about my laptop. When people are still impressed with your technology six months after you bought it, that’s a good sign you got a cutting-edge device. Now that I can’t buy anything for awhile, we’ll see how long that lasts.

T-Mobile lowered the prices for its Wi-Fi access and got rid of its ridiculous data transfer caps. But still not enough to make the service worthwhile.

OK, I’m going to leave because it’s freezing in here. I dressed for the afternoon high of 73, not this 40-degree night.

More job news

Andrea's interview went well today, but they indicated that they're interviewing a designer from the L.A. Times next week with 13 years' experience. But the women said she'd really like to hire another woman. Let's hope the L.A. Times guy is asking for too much money.

Also, Andrea's union leader said they'll try to make sure she gets called into work three or more times a week. Let's hope that happens.

And in a shocking development, The San Jose Business Journal laid off five more people today. No word on whom.

The Bush recovery continues...

Parabéns!

Everyone say happy birthday to Andrea. She's 30! (Actually it was on Monday, but I didn't get a chance to update the blog).

Play detective!

Do these picture look even remotely alike? If I saw the guy on the bottom walking down the street, I would have never guessed it's the same guy as the one on the left. Be glad I'm a journalist and not a CIA agent.

Good news, bad news

First the good: Andrea has an interview next week for an infographic design position at the San Jose Mercury News, a big step up from what she's doing now and a far better use of her talent. Also, a very popular designer (an American whose wife happens to be Brazilian), has expressed interest in her work, and might use her for conferences he organizes in Brazil.

The bad news: she found out that her department lost a big client and will therefore cut two people, putting her at No. 2 or No. 3 on the substitute list. This means she may work as little as a day a week. It'll probably be closer to two or three days, but in either case, she'll take a big cut from her already low pay.

Pray that she gets the Merc job. Or maybe this is God's way of forcing her to move here.

TV is your friend

Tonight's episode of Smallville was awesome. Clark finally learns that he's Superman (or at least Kal-El), special-effects abound, the tension between Clark and Lex Luthor grows, and the multilayered Christopher Reeve appearance even had musical allusions to the John Williams Superman theme. Excellent!

I think this was the episode everyone was waiting for. Too bad they'll show reruns for the next few months.

Another great story...

Message Technology Gets 'American Idol' Showcase

Valentine's Day

Well, I'm getting ready to go to San Jose again. I'll miss the real holiday, since I get in at 10:30 p.m. and she doesn't get off work until midnight or so. But we'll celebrate on Saturday. One of her cousins is in San Francisco, so I'll get to meet her, too. Best of all, it's a three-day weekend.

I'm a little worried about this terrorism business. I guess there's nothing I can do, but it's never a good sign when the government advises you to stock up on duct tape. I hope the rumors about stinger missiles are exaggeated. And I hope targets don't include Disneyland, the underwater BART tunnels in the Bay area or LAX. Or for that matter, my apartment.

U.S. questions dissident's conviction

CNN.com - U.S. questions dissident's conviction

"Our embassy in Beijing and our consulate general in Guangzhou have again registered our deep concerns over lack of due process," Boucher said.

"We also note with deep concern that Mr. Wang's trial was conducted in secret, raising questions about the nature of the evidence against him," he added.

"We are particularly concerned by the charge of terrorism in this case given the apparent lack of evidence and of due process."

Because the United States would never do anything like that.

An sad day for arcade games...

Atari Arcade Division Closes

NASA Reported Fragile Shuttle Wing in '94

Oops.

So much to write about, so little time.

Obviously, the Columbia disaster came as a shock. Like a lot of little kids, I wanted to be an astronaut growing up, and I used to be a huge shuttle fan. I remember a neighbor giving me a shuttle "owner's manual" that I read over and over and from cover to cover. And I still remember seeing those heat tiles falling off of Columbia in the late 1970s in NASA's first real-world test flights, when it would piggyback jumbo jets on cross-country flights. But on Saturday, I didn't even realize a shuttle was even up in space, much less the Columbia.

Andrea came for the weekend, and as usual, we had a really good time. We mostly hung out in Santa Monica, saw a Brazilian movie called "City of God" that's been getting good reviews (extremely violent, but good) and even tried a new restaurant (it was OK). She flew back this afternoon.

That's it for now. I'll try to update in the next couple of days.

Another Clinton "scandal" debunked.

Salon | Newsreal: The great Arlington National Cemetery smear

Bush Says Saddam Shows 'Utter Contempt' for U.N.

Finally, Bush and Iraq agree on something.

I reorganized my Yahoo briefcase to make room for more picture. They include Andrea's and my trip to Solvang a few months ago and some random shots. I'll put the Monterey pictures back up when I get time.

Reporting from San Jose

I'm seeing Andrea for the first time in more than a month and she's doing just fine. Today we're going clothes shopping, then off to help a friend fix his wireless network, then off to an NFL playoff party by a bunch of Tennessee Titans supporters. We're supposed to give some moral support to Sarah and Geoff, who are Oakland Raiders fans (though both are from Tennessee).

The whole notion of rooting for a particular team is sort of silly. In ancient times -- when a team comprised people from a particular town or region, and people rarely moved far from their birthplace -- I can see identifying with a team. Its triumph over another team, after all, would seem to imply some sense of genetic superiority. But nowadays, a team has little to do with the town they happen to play in. It players change constantly, teams move, and not even the owners live there half the time. So the whole notion of home-team loyalty is a corporate construct. In other words: sports fans = suckers.

Game server flaw poses attack threat

Not good

'In an advisory posted to the company's Web site, security consultancy PivX Solutions stated that popular multiplayer games that have servers supporting the GameSpy network--such as "Quake 3: Arena," "Unreal Tournament 2003" and "Battlefield 1942"--could be used to magnify a denial-of-service attack, in some cases by as much as 400 times.

...

Other games that PivX believes are vulnerable are "Quake," "Quake 2," "Half-Life," "Tribes," "Return to Castle Wolfenstein," "Medal of Honour: Allied Assault," "NeverWinter Nights," and "America's Army." Versions of the game servers that are released on the Linux platform are affected as well."

The Republicans are in charge #6

White House Allows Limits on Emergency Coverage

U.N. team finds chemical warheads

It looks like we finally have some evidence.

Rumsfeld: Lack of evidence could mean Iraq's hiding something

You can't beat that kind of logic.

What was it Bush was saying about how Iraq treats its people?

Death, terror in N. Korea slave camps

Bush: 'Sick and tired' of Iraqi deception

We are not, however, sick and tired of North Korean deception.

The Republicans are in charge #5

House weakens rules on lobbyists

Apple releases its own Web browser

If this is the company's biggest product announcement for MacWorld, they're doomed. This might have been exciting about 10 years ago.

Proof still not given of first human clone

OK, it's official. Legitimate news organizations can stop giving these hucksters attention and credibility now. We have enough pseudoscience as it is.

Wow, those online gamers really get into it....

WinBeta.Org - L.A. Official Calls for Probe of Internet Cafes

"The investigation of the cybercafes, also known as 'PC bangs' or 'cybercafes,' came after a brawl erupted between rival groups playing in a tournament involving the online combat game 'Counter Strike.'
...
One unidentified teenager was shot in the leg on Monday outside an Internet cafe in Northridge, a suburb that is part of Los Angeles. A second youth was struck in the head, reportedly with a chair."

Happy New Year!

Let's hope this one is better than the last. Here are this year's resolutions:

1) Get to full-time reporter status.
2) Visit another country,
3) Cut debt in half and save $500 or more a month.
4) Learn some Portuguese.
5) Learn some C# programming.

Happy New Year!

Things look a bit cheerier than they this going into 2003. Let's hope it stays that way...

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!