Study finds Americans work more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kidman Says Cruise Denied Cruz Affair

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further proof that you should never exert yourself.

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

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

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

Katherine Harris to run for Congress

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

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

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

Another good cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

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

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

Surprise, surprise:
Bush camp promoted illegal balloting in Florida

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

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

Oh, boy! Another faith-based educational program!

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