Two In The Bush

Arizona Sites, and Home

2008-07-04T22:10:20Z

My favorite thing about the aptly named Grand Canyon is that it's so inconspicuous...

What I mean is that as I drove up route 64 to the east rim, it didn't look like canyon country. I had expected some kind of increasing visual drama as I approached, like with most dramatic terrain. But no: the landscape leading up to it was as flat and bland as anything I'd seen in west Texas.

Heck, I was actually in the parking lot and I still couldn't see the damn thing. For something that huge, being so inconspicuous is quite a trick. I had to actually walk past the last row of trees to finally see it. And there it was.

I imagine the early folks who came across it were just making their way along through the brush when suddenly they take a step out onto the edge unexpectedly. After a moment of taking in the astonishing view one of them says to the other, "Well shit."

I really liked the canyon. Definitely lived up to the hype. I walked up and down the rim for over an hour. My favorite bit was finding a precipice with a slight overhang, crawling out, laying on my belly, and sticking my head out over the edge. I tried this at a few spots and I think it really gives a particularly nice impression. It's a little like flying, or being disembodied in space or something. No railings, no ledge, not even the familiarity of your own hands or legs visible to ground you. Just... open.

At a particularly comfortable spot I lay like this for maybe 15 minutes, watching hawks or eagles circling below me. Squirrels approached and a fellow tourist said good naturedly "Look at that nut over there on the ledge... hey! The squirrel thinks he's a nut too!"

---

I actually got an early start today; after being frustrated at not being able to fall asleep until nearly 3AM, I awoke naturally at 8:30. I shot over to meteor crater quickly. It's a big hole in the ground.

I don't want to talk ill of the crater, it is impressive in it's size and history. But I was a little let down. Perhaps in part because I'd been fantasizing about visiting it since I was a kid. Also perhaps because I saw what I thought was a more impressive volcanic crater a little while back.

Also, the spot isn't run by the national park or monument services, it's a private corporation. So rather than the the laid back atmosphere that government establishments seem to engender, this place had a slightly smarmy feel to it. Signs as you approached extolling the virtues of the site, complete with exclamation points. An audio commercial ringing outside by the ticket counter, telling you of all the wonders you'll see for your $15. Overall, I prefer the take-it-or-leave-it attitude of the US Gov't run spots. Who says the gov can't do anything right?

But the owners have put a lot of work into the place, and I respect that. The museum is comprehensive and very well done. The crater itself is what it is. It's really big -- round, wide and deep. But I guess it's just so weathered that looking at any one portion of it just seems like a random desert hill. From the upper deck it is reasonably dramatic.

More interesting to me was learning that until this crater was closely studied early last century, it was believed to be volcanic, as were most large craters. In fact it was this crater that first opened up the idea about large scale meteor impacts, until then the idea was not very much considered. Studies of the crater gave rise to much of our understanding of such collisions. It changed the way we looked at and understood the surface of other planets and moons. So, you know... cool.

Then I drove down to Montezuma's castle, which I liked very much. You couldn't get right up close to it like with the Aztec ruins I had seen in NM the day before, but the oddity of such elaborate buildings so high in the cliffs was certainly dramatic, and made me think about how and why those industrious folks would do such a thing, and how they might have lived there for hundreds of years. The museum had some good artifacts, too. Oddly the neat site actually had nothing to do with the Aztecs or Montezuma; it was made by a people called the Sinagua, ancestors of the modern Hopi tribe. But the English name stuck.

Across the street from the real site is a modern casino done in the motif of the ruin. I figured I owed it to myself to drop by for lunch. It was like every other casino. I had a Cobb salad.

Then I drove up to the Grand Canyon, which I've already described. I think I did the sights in the right order; a nice escalation of being impressed and slowly drawn into a consideration of our place in the world.

The immediate Flagstaff area was surprisingly lush to me -- I had envisioned all of Arizona as a deserted wasteland, but not so. It's quite varied. There were lots of deserts, but there was some lovely forest too. The weather around there was absolutely perfect. I started heading home after the canyon. At about four hours, it was an easy drive even after the rest of the day's exploring.

I crossed the Hoover Dam at around 8:30 PM; they're building a large bridge over the chasm. It was all lit up and they were working on it as I passed. Looked like quite a job.

When I pulled over the last crest in the hills to look down on the Las Vegas valley, I wondered at the big bowl of light. With all the driving I'd just done, this was still a unique sight along that path. I felt a little sad that the journey was over, but more so I felt glad to be getting home.

Today was Lisa's last day at Zappos, so we're both starting some fresh things in our life. We went out and had a killer steak dinner to mark the occasion.

Austin, Albuquerque, Flagstaff

2008-07-03T06:53:19Z

The drive from Austin to Albuquerque was long. I let myself sleep in the morning so I didn't leave town until 10:30 AM. I didn't get into my room in Albuquerque until just before midnight. And that included an hour of driving in the dark in the pouring rain near the end of a full day on the road.

The speedlimit was 80 most of the way, so I figured I could get away with anything under 90. I figured wrong. A friendly Texas state trooper gave me a $150 ticket for going 88 in an 80 zone. At least by achieving 88 mph, I was able to travel back in time and make sure my parents got it on.

West Texas is pretty blank and very big. Other than the trooper the only thing I bumped into was El Paso. I half heartedly tried to find some local food, only to end up at a McDonalds near the on ramp. There just weren't any obvious places to eat; but there were several bail bondsmen and gun stores. There was definitely a old-west feel to it, despite having a few glassy modern towers in the middle.

Once a little ways outside of El Paso, and again just before I passed
Truth or Consequences, I saw some very run-down settlements. They were the closest thing I've seen in the US to a shantytown. They still looked a lot better than what you see in SA.

New Mexico claimed to be "The Land Of Enchantment" on it's state enterance sign, and I was skeptical. But by the time I left I was successfully enchanted. Even including the rainstorm I drove through, complete with lightening, the state was beautiful.

Albuquerque seemed to have a lot of young kids tooling around it's center strip at midnight. I payed them no mind and went to the Econolodge.

After a quick night's sleep I planned my day: I wanted to get to Flagstaff, which would normally be only about four hours, but I also wanted to see some Anasazi ruins, which would take me another four hours out of the way. After the long previous day, I was a little worn out on the driving, and considered going straight to Flagstaff.

Luckily I did do the extra drive, because it was stunning. The landscape of north western New Mexico is just lovely. When I got to the ruins themselves they were more impressive than I had anticipated. They're in pretty great condition considering their age (about 800-900 years old), and they let you walk right inside several of the dwelling areas. Here it is in satellite from Google maps; yes that grid right in the middle with the circles. Each of those squares is the open top of maybe an 9x9 room, and the outer edges are three stories tall.

It's funny that I was thinking and writing about extended phenotype the other day, since today I saw a prime example of it. The Anasazi ruins reminded me very much of the building style and stonework I'd seen in Scotland's Orkney Islands. These are two peoples, separated by enormous time and space, and yet they made strikingly similar structures with strikingly similar techniques and style. Genes effecting the environment indeed.

I talked with the park ranger a bit about it and he said that recently there has been a trend for indigenous people from around the world to get together and share socially and culturally. He said they've discovered a lot of commonality.

I spent about two hours there. I would recommend to anyone traveling near the Albuquerque area who's into "stuff" to take a little trip up to Aztec NM.

Heading back down and over into Arizona the great landscape continued. As I approached Flagstaff, I saw a sign for the giant meteor crater -- something I've wanted to see since I was a kid but had forgotten was nearby. Unfortunately it was closed for the day, but it's only 40 miles out of the way so I'm going to add it to my plan for tomorrow. That plan includes:

1. Meteor Crater
2. Montezuma's Castle
3. Grand Canyon

Those are all around Flagstaff, like spokes on a wheel. After that, I'm heading back to Las Vegas. Assuming all goes well I should be there in time for bed.

It's funny how much stuff I think of while I'm driving that I can't recall later.

I like Austin

2008-07-01T06:24:14Z

I started the day with some aimless driving around and ended up at the Spiderhouse Cafe where I enjoyed chili and wifi, followed by a brownie and iced latte. Aside from having a great homey atmosphere, they featured an excellent whole-album approach to music selection which went from The Sugarcubes to the hitless Women and Children First by Van Halen, which I love and which happens to be the first respectable rock album I ever got into. Before that it was just Weird Al and Huey Lewis.

I also went to the Texas state capital today. It's a lovely building much in the style of other captial buildings, except it's finished in red Texas granite, so it has a neat salmon color.

There was a civil war memorial out front that honored those who died in the fight for "constitutionally guaranteed states rights". I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Though I understand that the reasons for any war are enormously complex, and the convictions of anyone who gives their life for a cause are as varied as each person, I'm going to say that "states rights" is a poor characterization of the motivation for the American civil war.

I think the most obvious evidence of this is the fact that the confederate constitution prohibited its member states from outlawing slavery. In other news, Japan annexed Korea for its own good. Sigh. Admit your shit. Admit your shit and move on.

I liked the building though, and respect very much the challenge of governance that plays out in the chambers, which were empty during my visit. The place is very open, allowing anyone to walk through just about the whole building with nary a search or metal detector. Just a handful of cowboy hat wearing troopers patrolling the grounds.

As I was looking over the building and noticing its beauty and its similarity with other capitol buildings, the Richard Dawkins idea of extended phenotype occurred to me. I tried to get my head around the possibility that these buildings are on some level in our genes -- like a termite mound or a beaver dam, this is the long throw result of our DNA and the environment in which it exists.

Another unrelated thought occured to me while I looked over the chambers: if we cannot accept personally flawed politicians, then we are doomed to get dishonest and/or delusional politicians.

Heading down to South Austin on a whim I watched the city open up a bit and drove until I got to the pawn shop and check cashing district, which still seemed about as nice as such an area can seem. A little further out and it was more like suburbs so I drove back into an artsy section of south congress ave that I has passed.

There I checked out a couple local stores... one inparticular captured my heart. A fairly large place called "Uncommon Objects". It was a used everything store, and had a seemingly endless collection of charming old junk. Some of it commercial items, like old company signs and home furninshings, some of it artistic creations from the past, and even personal items like people's personal photographs from long ago. What made it special, in comparison to other similarly themed stores I've come across, was the arrangement: whoever laid out the store made the entire place a piece of art. Mainly this was achieved by giving it a labyrinth quality with nooks and pathways, but also by arranging the stuff in groupings that had some common theme. It wasn't always apparent what the theme was, but certainly the little groupings seemed to me to go together. Maybe color palette, maybe era, or maybe something else I couldn't put my finger on, but it worked well. Seemed almost like a softspoken museum of American day-to-day life history.

Again the idea of extended phenotype occurred to me, and again I looked around at the product of our collective human genes prodruding into the world as artifcats.

I didn't want to buy any of it... not sure that any of it on it's own would be that interesting. But I sort of wanted to just live there in the store, doing all my daily things surrounded by adorable bits of historical junk.

So there's another item to add to the list of things I have found I enjoy seeing when travelling: old churches, cemetaries, ancient ruins, and now, well organized junk shops.

I headed over to Ironworks BBQ for their famous beef ribs, but got sidetracked as I passed the Congress St. Bridge and saw hundreds of people gathered looking over the edge. Luckily it so happens that Lisa had told me about this: there are some famous bats that live under a bridge in Austin who come out nightly en masse. I hadn't made a plan to see them, but here I was running right into it.

I parked, went out on to the bridge, and then watched 1.5 million bats swarming around underneath and off down the river. It was pretty cool. They made a neat chittering sound that must not have been the sonar, as that's supposed to be supersonic, and they flew densley in tight loops very near to the railing where I stood. I was impressed that they weren't constantly crashing into each other at such high speeds.

As it got dark I headed back to get BBQ... but missed it by just a few minutes. They closed at 9. The fellow there directed me to Green Mesquite BBQ instead. It was very good and cheap. However after this next statement I may be disallowed from returning to Austin: I did not find it to be eye-opening good. In fact I think Kojacks in Florida is slightly better, if also more expensive.

After the food I was tired and full, but I figured I should at least walk Sixth street before I go. So I took a stroll there and listened to a couple bands for a few songs. It was a Monday night, and so I imagine relatively quiet. Still, there was some live music and a handful of people out and about at each bar. It would probably be pretty sweet on the weekends.

Tomorrow I head off to Albuquerque. Twelve hours on the road -- longest single stretch of the trip. I should really be asleep already, but I find that I like to write these experiences down quickly, or I start to forget them!

Last Nola & Austin

2008-06-30T19:31:13Z

My second night in New Orleans was very different and also very fun. Kris knew an old college friend here, so he gave me her number. She suggested a local's bar outside the quarter that served tapas, so we hit that spot and chilled out.

I learned that a life long resident considers Nola a third world country right inside the US.

I learned that the "waitresses" who sell shots at the club and try to rip patrons off aren't even employed by the clubs: they buy a tray and then do whatever they want with it. She said they're even worse than strippers because they're unregulated. They call them "shot-stitutes".

She sometimes thinks about moving elsewhere, but finds most places aren't interesting enough after New Orleans.

Her long-time boyfriend is in the reserves and has been in Iraq since December; his second tour. He won't be back until the end of the year.

We talked for hours, had a couple drinks and some yummy tapas, which included whole shrimp wrapped in serrano ham and deep fried. Embarassingly I couldn't bring myself to suck the heads, but I did eat rest of it with the shells. They were absolutely delicious.

I even got to do some dancing -- the bar had a solid local DJ (DJ Soul Sista), and a laid back but full dance floor. Overall a very cool night.

Beignets and iced latte made for a very cool morning.

The drive to Austin the next day was a little slower going due to traffic and spots of rain. Driving over the Louisiana bayous was stunning: miles and miles of interstate up on concrete stilts, cutting through a forest that grows out of glassy still lake water.

Austin on a Sunday night is fairly quiet. I was tired from the day's drive and the lack of sleep I got in New Orleans. So I just found a motel, crashed, and slept for 11 hours.

Today I rolled around aimlessly and found a nice cafe to hang at.

First impression: Austin seems like a fairly ideal USian city. It represents the best of what it means to be USian: it's diverse, has plenty of quirky character, but still feels peaceful, clean, and safe. There's a nice mix of familiar chains and unique local spots. People seem friendly and laid back. It's not too crowded. It reminds me of something of a mix of Berkeley and Louisville.

I don't know if I'll be able to find any great music on a Monday night in "the music capital of the US", but I'll give it a shot.

Nola 2

2008-06-28T22:54:47Z

Today New Orleans seems just like a wonderfully quaint Euro/US city. Go figure.

I got a excellent tour of one of the graveyards. I got a mild sunburn. I ate rabbit and smoked sausage jambalaya.

Now it's raining and I'm hiding out in a garden cafe with a latte and a chocolate chip cookie.

No idea what I'm doing tonight, but I just found out I've got a friend of a friend to call.

Nola Brain Dump

2008-06-28T22:49:54Z

I don't think New Orleans is actually part of the US. It is some kind of warp into another dimension. I have been to 5 out of the 7 continents, and I've never seen anything like it. South Africa and Chile are like Disneyland in comparison. Las Vegas is like a bowl of Cheerios.

Of course, this is all based on but one evening in town, but it was a fun and crazy evening.

I drove from Bradenton FL to New Orleans today. Took about 10.5 hours including stops for food, gas, and urination. On the drive I listened to the entire career of Led Zeppelin. I had never heard most of their stuff before. Zep III didn't hold my attention, and neither did Coda. But other than that, it's a pretty amazing collection. Great road music. The time absolutely flew by.

The drive was easy and uneventful. Averaged about 75 mph and 34 mpg. Having driven a Prius for years, I'm fairly sure it would have pulled at least 42 on the same trip. So there you go: hybrid tech gets you about a 25% fuel economy on top of an otherwise similar car. The Prius feels nicer, though. I love the new Corolla so far, but I still miss my Prius.

The South in 2008 does not have nearly as many bugs as the midwest in 1997. I know because my car looks clean after 700 miles of interstate. There were stretches of the midwest that completely Jackson Pollacked our car in that distance.

In any case, I arrived around 7PM local time and checked in.

Within thirty minutes of my arrival in New Orleans, I witnessed a $130 restaurant heist. Later I was almost defrauded by a couple sleazy waitresses, and I finished the night witnessing police brutality.

I love this town.

Whenever I find myself alone in an unfamiliar place, the first several hours feel like a dream. I guess my reality is usually grounded by the presence of those I know. It seems so different to be isolated in a busy world.

The $130 heist was at a restaurant/bar called Oceanic where I had my first taste of New Orleans cooking. The hostess at the hotel recommended it, and though it looked a bit touristy, it was very very good. I had blackened redfish, which came smothered in some rich crawfish gravy with veggies and jambalaya on the side. A local Abita Amber beer hit the spot with that.

I'm not kidding: more than once as I ate I actually stopped and just sat there staring at my food, smiling and laughing because it tasted so damn good.

I was eating at the bar itself alongside seven other fellas who were obviously tourists except for the one right next to me who seemed like a local. We exchanged a few words. He told me he was a friend of theirs and that he was showing them around.

When that group finished their food they all got up together and left. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them throw a few bills onto the bar, but a moment later the lady tending bar ran out after them, claiming they hadn't payed. She managed to get them all to come back, minus the alleged friend who was showing them around -- the local guy who was sitting next to me. Apparently he had swiped the $130 cash and run, after leisurely enjoying a free rib dinner.

There were some cops at the bar and they got involved. The tourist guys, from New York, were pissed as hell. They asked me what I knew, and I told them, which wasn't much. I was a bit worried at first they were going to accuse me of stealing the money, and I was glad that I had only brought $20 with me. But nobody accused me. They claimed they didn't know the guy who ran off with the cash. Eventually at the cops' insistence, they paid the bill again.

"Be sure to hand the check directly to the staff next time," the bartender said matter-of-factly as the angry guys apologized and left, "Now you know you're in New Orleans."

I walked down Bourbon street at this point, still in a daze. The buildings, the atmosphere and energy were unlike anything I've seen. Every two doors there was a different live band rocking out in a filthy bar, the places were packed, and the people were roaming from party to party drinks in hand.

I poked my head in a few places, but then I found my home for the night: I came across a band playing "Pour Some Sugar On Me".

Look: I'm not going to entertain any complaints about going to Nola, the birthplace of Jazz and so much more, and spending my first night with a kitchy 80s band. That's me and that's that.

The seven member band came complete with an Eddie Van Halen quality guitarist, a male and female singer, and a keyboard player. They had a mullet wig that they passed around the band as appropriate. They rocked hard and approached the music with just the right blend of serious bad-ass musicianship and goofy rock-out-with-your-cock-out flair. They played it all... from Journey's Separate Ways to Guns 'n Roses to Love Shack.

On that latter song a cool waitress got me dancing, and after that I didn't stop. I didn't happen to want a drink at the time, but I should have given her a tip for getting me started.

After a couple hours of going crazy and sweating like only I know how, a different waitress came over on the dance floor and stuck a pair of test-tube shots in my mouth without me asking. I went along and drank them down. Then a friend of hers tried to do the same thing and I refused. So they gave double shots to each other. Then she asked for six bucks, the price of the two shots I had taken -- I told her truthfully that all I had was a credit card, and she said that was fine and took it to the bar.

A moment later I was called over and the bartender asked me how many shots I had. The waitress said "seven", and I laughed and said "no, just two". Thus an argument started.

The bartender took my side and so the slip I signed was just for the six dollars. From the bartender's suspicious attitude, I get the sense that these girls had been messing with people before. Obviously I gave them no tip.

The two waitresses acted outraged after the bartender left, claiming I owed them for the shots they gave each other. I just said, "I'm not drunk and I'm not impressed ladies, not impressed at all." "We're not trying to impress you. We think you're an asshole." one of them said. "That's fine," I replied, "just don't try to play me.". "We're not trying to play you. Where are you from?" they asked, as though it was going to lead to some insult. "I'm from Las Vegas honey," I said laughing, "I know all about getting played. So don't bother." They actually grinned at this and I walked off. Then I texted myself a reminder of what I had spent so that I could check my statement later.

I quickly forgot about all that as I danced some more. But when I went over to the bar later for another drink the bartender asked me how much I had tipped those girls. I told her I hadn't given them a tip at all because I was angry at them. She said to hold on because she wanted me to talk to the manager -- they had forged the slip to have a $10 tip but she knew something wasn't right.

I think she knew I was okay because when I first came in I had bought a couple drinks from her directly and tipped her well. So I talked to the manager and he seemed upset at the waitresses and said he'd take care of them. I'll definitely be checking that statement in any case.

I danced a few more songs and then realized I was going deaf: this band was the loudest thing I've heard since Living Colour played the Candyshack back in 89. I really should have got earplugs.

Outside I strolled around and eventually took a seat on a stairway to people watch. A scratchy vagrant seeming guy sat down nearby and we struck up a conversation. He was pretty cool. We talked about the mixed blessing of women. Some wandering friends of his came by and he eventually bid me farewell and took off.

I got up and walked around some more, encountering the mounted police. These were not the kinds of horses you ride at a farm: these were stallions. Absolutely huge creatures that seemed just a bit dangerous to people on the ground. Drunk folks stumbled around the horses unworried in any case, using them occasionally as support. This didn't work that well because the horses were constantly moving around. The cops sitting atop them weren't really observing the people; they seemed focussed on keeping the horses from freaking out and accidentally killing someone.

Just then I happened to look over at a nearby group of cops just as one of them screamed in some guys face at the top of his lungs "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" and pointed down the street. The guy the cop was screaming at was a dopey looking tourist. He looked harmless enough to me, but he must have been pretty drunk because he did not heed the instructions to "get the fuck out of here" and instead he smiled and said something quietly to the cop.

I can only imagine he said either "I have a gun and I'm going to kill you" or perhaps "I like it rough big boy" because at this point the cop grabbed the dopey tourist guy and forced him abruptly into a half nelson hold. The other cops quickly jumped in to force the tourist to the ground in a group tackle. I didn't see any indication he was resisting, but they wrestled him around then dragged him up against the side of the van roughly at which point the mounted police came over and shielded further action from view.

A moment later they were taking him away in cuffs. He was no longer smiling. I was a little buzzed and just standing there against a street lamp, watching it all blankly. There were lots of people around, but a cop from the group came over and singled me out, pointing down the street saying forcefully, but at least quietly, "get out of here".

So I did.

This place is a madhouse. Again, I've never seen anything like it.

I hope it's clear that I find all this wonderfully entertaining. Any adventure that doesn't result in permanent damage is OK by me.

I walked back to my hotel, at about 3AM. The place I'm staying is a beautiful old dump with no hot water or internet. The staff is friendly and helpful, but I have now determined that there's a 50% chance that the stuff in my car, which is in valet, will be stolen by the time I leave.

Even if so, it's totally worth it.

Oh: I met some people from Dallas at the first place. Even they thought I should take the longer route through Austin, so I think I will.

Around The World in HD

2008-06-27T06:34:11Z

Eric just sent me an HD version of Matt Harding's latest dancing video. Much nicer and I think for this video it makes a big difference being able to see the expressions and such.

Also noticed in the comments that I'm not the only person brought to tears by this. I find it very interesting that something so random, so abstract, so simple and seemingly unsentimental can bring out similar emotion in otherwise unconnected people.

Not that it would make any sense to anyone out there, but if they're going to throw something on the next Voyager disc, I nominate this.

Around The World

2008-06-24T20:11:34Z

I've been a fan of Matt Harding since the beginning. He's the dude who danced all around the world and put it on video.

He just released his latest dancing video, number 3, which I think is a nice expansion on the theme.

I get emotional and choked up watching these videos. Bonus points to anyone who understands why.

Remember, bonus points can be redeemed for valuable prizes!

Florida

2008-06-22T06:52:14Z

I've been in Florida for the past several days, visiting with the family and prepping for a trip back to Las Vegas with all my stored goodies in tow. Musical equipment mainly, and some other odds and ends. All things to make my place feel more like my place.

For the drive I bought a Toyota Corolla. That's my new (used) car, and with a little luck I'm hoping it'll last me for the next five years. It's not as nice as the Prius I sold last year, but it's also not as expensive, and I don't want to spend that kind of money right now. It's supposed to get pretty great gas mileage for a non-hybrid, but I'll reserve judgement until I'm on the road.

I'll probably leave by the end of this week... after I get my iPod hookup installed. Drive cross country without my tunes? I can't go for that. No. No can do.

On the trip I plan to hit New Orleans, Austin, Albuquerque, and the Grand Canyon. All new for me. A leisurely pace of nine days, I expect.

I'm sad about some things. I'm hopeful about others. Such is life.

Get This

2008-06-13T06:59:43Z

Today is the five year anniversary of the death of a friend of mine: Andrew Phillips. I knew him since high school, and he took his own life rather peacefully in 2003 without explanation.

We didn't spend all that much time together, but he was one of the most fearlessly creative and inquisitive minds I've known. He sparked more than a few "whoa" moments for me, and many laughs, in our rambling conversations late into the night while nearby computers churned out frame after frame of shoddy 3D.

Today I also randomly happened across an interview with Douglas Hofstadter. He's the author of GEB, a book that deeply changed the way I think about the human mind. The interview touches on the notion of immortality through memories. I couldn't help but think about Andrew as I read it.

Incidentally Andrew was the source of the copy of GEB that I read, and a fan of synchronicity.

I don't believe in the supernatural at all, but I admit that I like things that seem supernatural.

Also about dying and being immortal: I've moved to Las Vegas again.

Ducks

2008-05-17T22:22:18Z

I just realized how much I like ducks. They fly, they walk, and they swim. They're flying amphibious all-terrain vehicles. They also make an awesome honking sound.

More Birthday Stuff

2008-05-16T02:17:47Z

Sophie pulled off a pretty convincing "dinner for just the two of us" last night, but when we arrived at El Mansour for our first sampling of Moroccan food, just about everyone I could have imagined making it was there. Very cool :)

Friends, super tasty food, and belly dancing: what more could one ask for?

Well, a few rounds of pool and a bottle of port would be cool. And I got that too :)

Then today I woke up to find that California has legalized same-sex marriage.

All around a good start to another year on planet Earth.

Napa

2008-05-13T08:49:28Z

Sophie took me up to Napa this past weekend for my birthday. Fe and Cam were in attendance, and she contracted a driver so we could all get goofy safely. T'was beautiful up there. Good food, wine, and friends. Rather than describe in detail, I'll link to Cam's Pics.

The coolest thing at Hooters

2008-04-27T09:16:37Z

Went to Hooters for dinner. As we got seated near to the pool, we noticed an ancient old dude in Speedos dancing by himself on the patio. He was probably 70; his mop of jet white hair was styled more or less like Einstein's. His skin was an ill-fitting bag of wrinkles and liver spots hung over a slightly stocky frame that bulged mostly in the wrong places. And there he was out there by himself, in his Speedos, dancing up a storm to an odd mix of 80's music. There were people sitting all around at nearby tables observing and chuckling.

Pretty soon after we got there a twenty-something girl came over to dance with him. She was cute, wearing a bikini, and had a stripper-quality body. I thought it would just be a quick laugh for her, but she ended up dancing with him for the entire time we were there, probably almost an hour. She got up close and personal, doing the bump-n-grind, rubbed his face on her belly, etc. He was gentlemanly about the whole thing, playing along, obviously enjoying, but not getting grabby. After a while the crowd was cheering them on as they did their grotesexy dance.

They only stopped once to grab a drink and chat for a few minutes. She had a strawberry daiquiri and he had a non-alcoholic beer.

I'm not a cynical fellow. I took it at face value: just an old guy living it up, long since free of all the anxieties that tend to make being young less fun than it looks, and a girl having fun while the hot, too-cool-for-school guys in her age bracket sat around the sidelines scoffing, drinking beer, and watching the game. It was one of the more honestly entertaining things I've seen in this town.

Of course, you could take it less charitably. She could be a gold digger, though it seems unlikely a girl of her caliber would be scoping out sugar daddies at the low rent Hooters casino. If she was a hired companion it's almost more intriguing: dancing in bathing suits in the middle of the Hooter's pool patio is probably an odd request for a call girl even in this town. But I think it was just a random, playful event.

As we were leaving I wanted to go over and say "hi", and complement them on their entertaining performance, but I chickened out. Besides they seemed to be having too much fun to interrupt.

Note to self: guys who dance fearlessly get the chicks.

A Laugh

2008-04-21T21:53:16Z

Nothing solid to report. But I did find the following video link, which I leave on my desktop. I watch it every once in a while and so far it has never failed to make me laugh:

3 Year Old Talking About Monsters

Her logic and sincerity at 0:15 is just too funny. I've probably watched it about three times a day for the past week. She's gonna grow up to be awesome.

180

2008-03-26T23:19:41Z

So I should probably mention that I've changed everything since my last post.

After two days at BluBet, I decided that in fact I am not able to go back to work at this time. I liked the people, the company vision, and the job... but I just don't have it in me. In fact, I think the last 10 years was all I had, and it's all used up. I have various theories and explanations to explain why I'm at where I'm at, but if you want to hear them you'll have to buy me a latte at Ritual. Suffice it to say I've got too many things I want to do that I've been putting off for too long.

What are these things I want to do? I'm not 100% sure. I suppose the first thing I want to do is to figure that out. I'm lucky enough to have a little time to experiment, given that I do so in a very frugal manner. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm considering the feasibility of doing my own startup. I'm writing up an Indigarden business plan to shake the ideas out. If it looks good I'll go for that. If not, I'll look into something else.

I want to record some music again in any case.

Speaking of which, here's a little clip of me practicing (sorry, no streaming... it has to download 10MB completely first). I just recorded it today. It wasn't intended for public consumption, but what the heck: I only look of average dorkiness and I only make a few major mistakes. It's a song I wrote back in Dec 2000 that applies just as well to my state of mind eight years later.

I'm not actually as sad and apathetic as I look in the video :)

Update

2008-03-16T03:48:02Z

I seem to have less reason and desire to blog these days -- does that mean my life is less interesting or that I'm taking more interest in actually living my life?

Honestly, it's the former at the moment. But here's something: I've been interviewing and I got a few offers and after much deliberation I decided to work at BluBet.

It's a very small startup, just a handful of people in a borrowed corner of someone else's office at the moment. But they're good folks, have a fun little site with a fast growing membership, and some cool ideas for the future. I start on Monday.

Ethiopian food last night at Assab... damn yummy!

Missing Africa

2008-02-27T05:29:22Z

So Alan and Donna have gone off for this year's adventure in Dundee. They posted an ad for someone to come along with them, and found a young lady in the New England area that was up for it. So they'll have help this year. Neat that someone would randomly join them like that!

I'm a little sad because I would love to go again myself. I just don't have the money or time for it this year. But their good work goes on. Maybe I'll be able to swing it next year...

Vegas Baby!

2008-02-14T07:57:40Z

I'm currently in Las Vegas, but I'm leaving first thing in the morning. Sophie and I drove here as part of her mom's 60th birthday which we celebrated in Los Angeles. The plan was to be here for just a day, then for me to drive my one carful of stuff back up to SF.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas a few days ago, Lisa had organized a splendid barbecue so that I could see the maximum number of people during my brief visit. It was fun to see everyone but of course much too brief. However it did include some 12 varieties of meat and we finished off with four of us visiting old Vegas for deep-fried twinkies.

While in old Vegas we happened upon one of those performances with motorcycles driving around inside spheres. Oh hey: someone posted it on youtube (although that is from an earlier performance. I'm going to guess the video seems lame, but I assure you that in person it was rather thrilling.

Of course, we were tired and overstuffed with food at this point so perhaps in our lethargic state more things would seem thrilling than usual.

Then I had one of the worst nights of sleep ever, as I came down with a nasty cold. I blame Aki since he had a cold at the bbq, though I must admit it was my idea to make out. In any case, the next day I felt like complete crap and certainly not up to packing the car. Sophie took care of me with plenty of airborne and soup. Then she flew home. In a plane -- she's an angel but she hasn't got her wings yet. Awe.

The next day I felt marginally better, but still not good enough pack up. I'm a believer in getting huge amounts of sleep, warmth, and fluids for this kind of thing and knocking it out of your system quickly rather than trying to act like you're not sick and dragging it out for a week. Lisa brought me Taco Bell, which also may have helped. In any case I felt pretty good today, so I packed up and I'm ready to head back. The car is so full I can't see out the back and there's a filing cabinet in the passenger seat wearing a seat belt.

I had dinner with Cassie at Pin Kaow which was very yummy and reasonably priced. We ordered a spice level of "7", which ended up being perfect for me, but I'd say it was a very white "7", if you know what I mean. This would be called "mild" at Henry's Hunan. But like I said, it was really good. Then we hit Red Mango across the parking lot for the tastiest frozen yogurt in the world. It was good catching up with her: Thursday is her last day at Zappos. She's off to experience the future.

What have I been doing with my future? Well, so far this year it's not been much of anything. I have a great time partying with our cool SF friends -- we go out almost every weekend for a little drinking and goofing around which result in photo galleries that I hesitate to link here. Each day Sophie works tirelessly to bring home the bacon, and I'm... waiting to be excited about something.

Chuggin' Along

2008-01-31T22:31:46Z

Hmm... not a lot to report!

My political page got over 300 views, which was inspiring. In the day of web counters that may not seem like a lot, but I'd feel pretty good if even half of the visitors read some of what was there and watched a video or two. How often do we get to positively influence even a handful of people?

I'm enjoying San Francisco, but I'm listless these days. There are lots of things I'd like to do that aren't really an option: like take another year off to record music or write or something. There's also lots of opportunity to get paid for doing something I'm probably not that excited about at the moment, like developing web applications. I've interviewed at a couple places anyway.

On the upside, I found an N64 emulator and I've been playing a lot of Super Mario 64 on my laptop. I've won it before, back in 97, but only with 70 or so stars. Right now I've got 92 stars (out of 120) and I'm methodically playing through to completion.

Damn, it's such a great game.

Political Coverage

2008-01-21T21:46:39Z

I put together a page about the presidential candidates because I wasn't satisfied with the others out there.

It's just an early idea, undeveloped and far from ideal, but it gives a flavor of my desire for more productive media coverage of our potential leaders.

So, you know, Get To Know Your Next President.

Cost of living in an intersection

2008-01-10T22:54:19Z

I just got a chain email me that attacks Barrack Obama as being unelectable because he is descended from the union of a Muslim and an atheist. The email goes on and makes various assertions about Obama trying to cover up his radical Muslim heritage. Much of this email has been debunked.

But true or not, the email made me feel like shit.

It was forwarded around by people who profess to love me.

Emails like this are an ongoing thing: this is just the latest one to circulate around with my friends and family. They are usually emails that rally people around distrust and hate of a particular group. Previous topics of distrust and hate have included liberals, homosexuals, and immigrants. Add that to the Muslims and atheists of this latest email, and the list of enemies must nearly be complete.

Since in the past I've spoken out against such divisive emails, I am no longer on the email list. I didn't actually get this one directly: it was forwarded to me by someone still on the list who was upset by it as well.

There's only a small number of people who get these emails and also read my blog, but for them I want to say this:

When you talk badly of atheists, you're talking badly about me.

When you talk badly of liberals, you're talking badly about me.

When you talk badly of homosexuals, immigrants, and muslims, you're talking badly about people that I know and love.

And when you stand by and silently acknowledge such talk, you are betraying me and people that I know and love.

If that's how you really feel about me and my choice in friends, fine, but then don't tell me how wonderful I am. Resolve the contradiction: either decide that you don't like me, or realize you like at least one atheist liberal homosexual-loving immigrant-loving muslim-loving secular humanist.

I don't expect everyone to agree. I don't agree with most of my family about a great many things. But I don't partake in conspiratorial emails ignorantly deriding whole cultures, groups, or individuals based on what group they or their parents are members of. I've not yet seen an atheist email chain going around about how we should distrust all Christian presidential candidates, but if I did you can bet I'd be speaking out against that too.

Peace.

Neat Photo Collection

2008-01-06T01:48:09Z

While doing some market research for Sophie's photography business, I came across a photo collection that I really liked.

I think it's worth going through the whole collection of 86 photos and reading the text.

First Movie of 2008: Blade Runner

2008-01-04T09:17:02Z

Had a nice low-key New Year's Eve with some friends. We hung out at Sophie's place with snacks and drinks. And now it's time for me to re-enter the job market. My year of adventure is at an end... yet it leaves me hungry for more. I think I'll have to wait for the time being.

Sophie, Eric and I went to see the re-re-edit of Blade Runner tonight. Didn't notice anything different from the director's cut that came out in the 90's. But that's okay, because I love that cut and I'd never seen it on the big screen.

Man, I really dig that movie. It's got one of the most morally ambiguous cast of characters I can think of. The run-down high-tech city atmosphere and the pervasive multiculturalism are spot on. It's got a slow deliberate pacing that they just can't do in Hollywood anymore. Such that you can think and feel as you watch. And it asks a great question without every stating it: "what is it about us, if anything, that makes us worthy of respect?"

Let's see if I can answer that to my own satisfaction by the end of the year.

New Season!

2007-12-23T18:33:36Z

A quick group photo session with some friends before a night out on the town resulted in a photo that just begged to be turned into this.

Camryn was the first to note that the original photo looked like a TV sitcom title card, and that I looked like the "goofy guy". I threw together the graphics, and then he created a facebook group.

And, lord willing, that's where it will end.

(One open question is what my "catch phrase" would be...)