Monthly Archives: June 2004

On the way home from work I usually walk by a large kitchen (I think it’s Meals on Wheels) and I can see the cook watching TV as she works. Today I saw her watching the first quarter of the NBA Finals game between the Lakers and the Pistons. I stopped and peered through the window and checked out the score and the Pistons were up. The cook came out and told me, “The Pistons are spanking the Lakers! I hate the Lakers!” Who doesn’t? I watch the NBA playoffs to see the Lakers lose. I watch the MLB playoffs to see the Yankees lose. What else is there?

But the weird thing is that I see my neighbors, too. Plus I saw the woman sitting next to us during David Sedaris’ reading. So Sherman Alexie is reading on Friday. I wonder if I should go see him again.

David Sedaris made a visit to 23rd Avenue books and a bunch of us sat out in the back court to hear him read. It was a cold, rainy afternoon (it’s Rose Vegetable after all) and the back court isn’t covered. We were cold, wet, and shivering but David Sedaris is worth it. He read from his new book, “Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” and from his diary, and the rain kept coming down. He wanted to stop, but the audience wouldn’t let him. The surprising thing is how nice he was when he was signing his books. He talked with everyone and went out of his way … Continue reading →

There are reasons I have to stick with my Solaris machine. One is that my ISP requires me to use the same MAC address. So I backed up /home, /etc, and forgot /var. Guess who didn’t have a kernel compiled beforehand? I had to boot Solaris to mount my old disks and I found out that I had two /var directories and I preserved the wrong one. Feh. It’s about working now.

I was up at my friend Greg’s house today where he had a big barbeque and we were all supposed to be picking up sticks. He took 5 acres of tree farm and turned it into a meadow so his daughter could have horses. Now that the trees are gone and the ground is levelled off, there are a lot of branches that need to to be picked up before the tractor with the discs can do its discing. Often this involves a harrow. In Greg’s case, it involved his dumber friends. Lots of people were there, but only a half dozen of us were out piling up the sticks. … Continue reading →

I finally was asked if someone could use the equipment I was using since I was lifting, what, 16 lbs total and the other guy was lifting 100 lbs? Tough looking kid, but very polite. But the big tough guys — the ones who need spotting and make huge noises while they lift very heavy weights — are now showing up and I don’t see the people I used to see. Well, what I mean is there aren’t as many women to look at. But in any case I’m taking less time to lift lighter weights but it’s taking more time. Must be all the standing around I do when … Continue reading →

It’s Rose Vegetable and the Festival Scum Center has opened for another two weeks of unrulyness and fights between the disenfranchised and reserve police officers. On the way home I noticed a huge increase in the odd people downtown. Women with floral wizard robes and huge ornate neckpieces, men with topknots and few teeth. And it was also first Thursday! Another zoo, in the Pearl, full of pretentious people pretending to look at art. I just wanted to get out of downtown so I could hide. Isn’t it supposed to rain during the Rose Vegetable?

Didn’t see too many people at the sports club. I guess it gets kind of quiet during the summer months. That negates one of the reasons I go: watching the women. In any case, I signed up and I’m actually still going. Now if I can remember to pay my bills. I also finally got my “new” computer going with the $179 (if I remember to send in the rebate) monitor. It took me this long (three days or so) to install NetBSD and already I’m wondering if I should make it my one Windows box for the house so I can run ham radio software on it. Oh, the … Continue reading →

I saw the movie Audition today. That film was truly screwed up. My friends and I have enough trouble with women as it is. We don’t need that kind of help. Plus my friend Joey is pleasantly reminding me of my mortality by mentioning my “imminent demise.” Yeesh. If the magic $80/pill pharmaceutical sorcery works, my demise isn’t all that imminent. And a driver really ticked me off by blowing a stop sign and making a “California stop.” She rolled the Grand Cherokee through the intersection and was too busy putting on her glasses to stop at the crosswalk. I really should let it go and not let the drivers … Continue reading →