Not A Dollarshort

But they probably had really good leftovers.

When discussing our collective desire to move out of San Francisco to somewhere where the cost of living is reasonable, my sister-in-law, Sarah, offered a particularly "last-straw" story.

Note that Sarah is recently out of college, works as both an unpaid intern at a publishing house (internships are the new economy's slave labor) and as a clerk at Amoeba records. She pays way too much rent for what she's getting and recently her bicycle was stolen out of her apartment. This all contributes to her frustration.

Sarah: So the other night I was waiting to catch a bus to take me to a costume party. The party's theme was Las Vegas and Weddings so I was dressed as 'something blue.' This costume consisted of blue pants, a blue sweater and a knit cap. While I was waiting to catch my bus some Marina girls...

Mena: Marina girls?

Sarah: Rich girls that come to the Haight to throw money around.

Mena: Oh.

Sarah: Anyway, I'm standing, waiting for my bus and these girls pass and offer me their leftovers!

Mena: No way!

Sarah: Yeah. I was just standing with my arms folded. It wasn't like I was sitting on a stoop.

Mena: What did you say?

Sarah: I said "No! I don't want your leftovers." But the thing is that after this exchange, nobody would make eye contact with me.

Mena: I'm sorry. But you have to admit, it's pretty funny.

Sarah: I guess. You should have seen these girls -- their clothes looked brand new -- like they had never even touched them before.

Mena: Continue talking like that and I'm going to start offering you leftovers.

See the USA...

We're considering taking an extended three-part vacation next year. The first third would be a cross-country trip from California to Tampa, Florida where we would then catch a transatlantic cruise to Portugal. From Portugal, we'd bum around Europe (if you definition of bumming involves Bed and Breakfasts) until our budget ran out or we were too tired to continue.

Our motivations aren't all fear-of-flying based. We just want to take a super-vacation where we meet our three major travel goals: See America, take a cruise and visit Europe again.

The cruise and Europe are fairly easy to plan. However, we're a bit clueless about the best way to travel across America. A friend suggested Highway 90 versus 80. Or was that the other way around? We want to definitely hit Chicago, Boston, New York, Charlotte (my parents will be living there next year).

And recommendations on good routes? Good books about driving through America?

We're more interested in scenic rather than quirky routes.

Lush Fans Rejoice!

Looks like Lush is opening a store in San Francisco.

And, just in the nick of time.

In November, I posted about my habit of hoarding hotel freebies. The day before yesterday, after visiting an Aveda store in San Francisco, I decided to check on my own travel-sized collection (I keep them in a basked in our bedroom). What I found was quite distressing: One of the shampoo bottles had leaked and three Aveda bars were wet and nearly ruined. The highlight of my collection, a partially sliced bar of Lush soap kept in a plastic baggy was in good shape, however. Though, I would have to say it seems to have lost some of its olfactory potency.

I unwrapped the three damp Aveda bars and moved them into our bathroom. At this point, I began to question (yet again) my decision to "save" items that are destined to be consumed. I wondered whether or not the Lush soap really belonged in a baggy and if I was depriving it of a natural existence.

These are the tough questions I ask myself each day.

Hopefully, with the opening of Lush SF, these nagging questions will cease.

Blogathon

Be sure the check out this year's Blogathon. Tomorrow is the deadline to register to participate, but you will be able to sponsor participants until the day of the event.

I participated last year and it was a great deal of fun. I won't be able to take part this year because we'll just be coming back from a conference/vacation on the day it begins.

Vacation? Yes. To Los Angeles to see my grandparents and to San Diego to attend OSCON.

I have six minutes to finish packing and get into the car before the tyrant leaves without me. Believe me, he really said he would leave without me. He said the trip would be a whole lot more fun without my nagging and screaming and incessant chatter. It's true! Don't listen to anything Anil says.

I'm a helpless little flower.

Banjo 1 - Ben 0.

I prevailed over the tyrant and rented a banjo last Wednesday. It's a beginner's Deering Goodtime -- the one that I wanted. And, the nice thing is that the rental fees can be applied toward the actual cost of the banjo should I decide buy the thing.

The fruits of my labor.

Extra points to the person who can actually tell what song I'm playing.

Now, if I only had a banjo strap...

It makes you laugh, it makes you cry.

I couldn't resist posting this rather entertaining piece of spam that I received today:

From: ()
Date: Fri Jul 05, 2002 08:47:31 PM US/Pacific
Subject: Time Travelers PLEASE HELP!!! 5115

Hello,

If you are a time traveler or alien and or in possession of government or alien technology I need your help! My entire life and health has been messed with by evil beings! If you have access to the carbon copy replica model #50 3000 series, the dimensional warp, temporal reversion or something similar please reply! I simply need the safest method of transferring my consciousness or returning to my younger self with my current mind/memory.

I need an advanced time traveler to work with who can help me, I would prefer someone with access to teleportation as well as a variety different types of time travel. This is not a joke! I am serious! Please send a separate email to me at ...

Thanks

—

The funny thing is, I really want to help this guy out.

Comment error.

It seems as if comments aren't working -- or, at least a server error is appearing when users try to post. I believe the problem has to do with our host and limitations on the amount of cgi resources we're alloted; I'm on the same server as movabletype.org and it's been getting pounded for the past couple of days.

We're hoping to raise some funds and move both sites onto a Rackspace server. Still, that would be a future solution and I need to find out a fix right now.

Update: We signed-up for a dedicated server from Rackspace and will begin the migration later this week. Thanks all who offered solutions or space on their servers.

Antics of the sleep deprived.

I've mentioned before that Ben has a habit of talking in his sleep.

Last night -- or I should say morning since we both went to bed around 5:30 am -- I was awaken by Ben tapping on my hand. Since I had just managed to fall asleep after about forty-five minutes of tossing and turning, I was not pleased.

It took a moment for me to process that Ben was "typing" on my hand.

Mena: Ben...What are you doing?
Ben: Wha?
Mena: What are you doing to my hand?
Ben: I lost the bile.
Mena: You lost what? Your bile? Are you going to throw-up?
Ben: No. I lost the FILE.
Mena: What file?
Ben: The TrackBack file.
Mena: You're asleep right now, right?
Ben: The file -- I lost it.
Mena: I'm going back to sleep and I'm sure you won't remember any of this when we wake up.

And of course, he didn't.

Related: How sleep deprived are you?

The mystery of the elderly Russian Mind.

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I were discussing just how quickly time passes once you reach a certain age -- particularly twenty-five. I was telling them how my time is measured by two things (1) brushing my teeth and (2) receiving a daily email indicating that my server stats have been resolved.

The log crunch is usually delivered between 9:30 to 11:00, depending on how much traffic we have received. When I get the email from my dear friend, "Cron Daemon," I usually breathe a heavy sigh and say "another day gone."

That's cheery, to the extreme.

But wait, there's more.

And so, when I'm finally ready to go to bed, I find myself washing up in front of the bathroom mirror. As I brush my teeth, I can't help but look at my tired-old eyes and say "Not you again. Weren't you getting ready for bed like five minutes ago? Oh yeah, that was yesterday."

We've got to get out of the house more, I guess. Being confined in an apartment has a way of eating at your well-being. And, I don't think Oleg, our downstairs neighbor, wants to hear any more of our fighting about pings or Netscape 4.0.

Speaking of which: A couple weeks ago I actually ventured downstairs to get our mail; usually Ben handles the important stuff that requires leaving the apartment. On my way downstairs, I met up with Oleg and his wife. Making small-talk (I assume), Oleg advised, in a joking manner, that I should "not to work too hard."

Since that conversation, I've been trying deduce the true meaning of his cryptic advice. Does he hear us talking and fighting about work at all hours? Or, does he think we're lazy because we don't have real jobs that require us to leave our apartment? Or, even worse, does he think we're odd because we don't leave the apartment enough?

Of course, considering that it's currently 3:30 am and he's walking around downstairs, it would sort of be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Or something like that.

Impulse buy.

Last week, while attending the O'Reilly Emerging Tech Conference, I realized that Ben and my system of sharing one laptop (Ben's) at conferences was really not working. It didn't work because, when using his iBook, I always felt like I was on borrowed time. Ben wasn't the happy camper either when I'd hand over his computer with 24% of the battery remaining -- these are just the sort of obvious problems that would arise when two people who really like computers are sharing one computer.

So, last Wednesday morning, before we headed down to Santa Clara, we stopped at the Apple Store in Palo Alto and I purchased the mid-range iBook model for myself. I had held off for months because I had wanted to purchase a TiBook to replace my desktop G4. I figured, if I can't use my current 19" monitor and set the resolution to at least 1152x870, then what's the point of purchasing a new computer?

The lure of wireless access over at the Westin and at our apartment, and my rationalization that my eyes need a break, was all the motivation I needed to make this impulse buy. ( I consider anything that takes less than 6 months to decide an impulse buy).

I was very happy with my impulse buy.

Then yesterday, Apple released a slightly updated version of the mid-range iBook. No big deal. Apart from the increase in speed from 600 to 700 Mhz and an improved video card (which doesn't seem that improved), I wasn't terribly distraught.

Technically, I have until the 25th to return the computer. For the $149 opened-box fee, I could have the newer model. Still, I don't want to be the type of person that returns a computer and complains about newer models.

And then, today, my trackpad started sticking.

I think I subconsciously willed this computer to have a problem. That way, I figure, I could feel justified in returning the machine.

But I'm a grin and bear it sort of person. I don't return things. Period.

So, here's the question. Have any iBook owners noticed this problem? Basically, my cursor will either disappear for a few seconds or just freeze onscreen. It doesn't seem to be happening in Classic mode so it doesn't look like a hardware problem.

Ben says I spend too much time in bed with the thing -- and that the static electricity from the linens and my pillow is screwing up the way the trackpad should work.

What do you think?

By the way, we thoroughly enjoyed the conference. While we attended a number of sessions that didn't directly apply to our work and what we're developing, the mere act of attending these talks (and just sampling from the pool of excitement) was enough to invigorate us into thinking of new directions for our own projects. I think that's how I've learn to judge a successful (in my opinion) session or talk: Just how much does my mind race (not wander) while listening to a speaker speak?