Archive for September, 2005
Coolhunting is something that is a part of the book Pattern Recognition, which I recently completed. This site is a neat place to read about trends, stuff, and thoughts - without it coming off as your usual pretentious, I'm so uber-cool "Cool stuff" site. I found
whatshouldireadnext.com there, and think it's a fab tool! Now what shall I read next???
September 30th, 2005
What happens when you get tired of the crappy ass sound quality on Apple's standard white ear buds? You torture them for torturing your ears for so long! The crew at hackaday.com waste some time painting the white Apple ear buds black. But they hit the nail on the head - get yourself some new earphones -the Apple ones suck. Try out some Shure E4Cs or the Etymotic Research ER-4Ps. I also find Sony Studio Monitor headphones are pretty decent, or try Sennheiser for a bit higher end.
September 29th, 2005
Apartment hunting is a serious chore, especially if you don't have a car to tool around in. We went on an unexpected hike up from Castro to Twin Peaks, since I was unaware of the area's topography. Well, it's exercise I guess.
Jimaima was a great example of the not-so-great experience. Late for appointment (didnt call us to let us know either), said he'd be there in 10 min, only got there in 30, set off the apartment owner's security alarm, didnt give us an application, and didnt call us back when we called to get one. Nice. He was probably too busy at the Pub down the street. Or is it... She?
September 29th, 2005
I cut the labels out of the necks of my shirts as they irk me. I refuse to buy clothing with apparent branding as that irks me. Size "S" clothing being too large for me is quite irk-some. Though admittedly fashion knowledgable people out there could probably figure out what de-logoed brand it is and turn their nose up at it. Screw them.
September 27th, 2005
William Gibson: Pattern Recognition. Difficulty finding sunflower seeds at grocery store. Orange and Pineapple generi-booze. Pizza.
September 27th, 2005
The windows flashed white; a scream tore through the curtain dividing the two rooms. The click quietly by surely caught my attention from through the door. Click. The room flickered as voices rose in unison. A gun shot rang out. Click. ... Click
Once it had been determined that the clicking of the oven cooking the corn dogs could not be halted, and that the tv still had the attention of a pair of eyes, I resolved to try to get to sleep anyway.
Yet even when the dogs had sated an appetite and the television had fallen silent, I was lay awake, distracted by the subtle, but eerie pulsing glow of the laptop standby light.
And finally, through the bleary eyed fog of sleep I was woken in the morning by the strangely ice-cream truck-like melody of a cell phone alarm.
September 26th, 2005
Went into town to check out the SF version of the Love Parade. They shut down one of the main streets through downtown SF and we watched a variety of floats (The pink Mammoth that squirted water was our fave, and the Pirate themed 'Salty Dog' had the best name) cruise down the road towards the Civic Center. The pirate ship Salty Dog and other vessels were equipped with an arsenal of sonic firepower, and laden with a stalwart crew of partyers. They provided some good house, trance & breaks entertainment while we watched both the floats and the horde of strangely dressed folk proceed down Market St. There were all manner of furries (including a green squirrel & snoopy) and lots of girls in fuzzy boots. There were stilts and wizards and naked men. Throw in an assortment of other strange ravery costumes, semi-goth outfits, and general weirdity - and you get the full picture (Basically your typical 'rave' crowd!)
The floats parked all around the Civic Center, the music kept on bumpin & we bumped into random people we knew from Hawaii. It was quite surreal. It would probably have been even more surreal if we had bought stuff from the dude with a makeshift paper sign that said 'Magic Brownies.' Along with brownies of questionable content were Magic Chocolates provided by the devious Kang himself, the mystery ingredient of which would probably have gone well with the moped turned fuzzy mushroom. Somehow they managed to have a giant fuzzy mushroom on board and still fit two people!
And we must not forget to mention the 'audio terrorists' tooling around on bicycles with onboard sound/noise systems whose purpose we had difficulty ascertaining!
September 24th, 2005
Microwaving a cup of coffee for over 15 mins makes a big mess.
Avdentured to Lake Merritt (Oakland-ish) to field another interview. BART is a nice system - I particularly enjoy how the cars look - very shuttlecraft from Star Trek TNG.
September 23rd, 2005
Yesterday the Dog with No Name peed on our blanket. Not terribly nice of him, though he is quite adorable. Jack Russell Terrier. The other household dog is Bella - a Lab/Rotweiler mix. She's kinda scary, but somehow really sweet at the same time. Word is she was abused by a Previous Owner.
I want to return my mouse because it is too squeaky. (Plus it has some bad habits that are bothersome...) Maybe I just need to get the hang of it (Or install Tiger for full functionality)
Speaking of no names, I need to come up with a name for the track I'm working on. Guess I also need to compile a list of potential labels to submit to.
September 22nd, 2005
Liquefaction in the Bay Area is of great concern to us potential renters. If the big quake does hit during our time here, I think I'd like our chances of survival to be as high as possible - and the ground beneath you building turning to muddy goop will surely only help dash those chances. The smartest thing would be to get the hell off these damn fault lines.
Phourque left for the sun and sand of the 50th state.
Job interviews begin.
Today's purchases: JBL Creature Speakers. Apple Mighty Mouse. CDRs. I so want a powerbook.
Hooked up with our other SF friend 'Hashish' (!) & ate at 'Squat & Gobble.' Yum Yum.
September 21st, 2005
Built a fire. Visited West Portal stationery store and picked up some basic designer needs - Xacto, Ruler, Cutting Pad etc. Watched a good amount of Father of the Bride 2 - then gave up when it got too sappy. Prepped for interview. Loud thunder. Kewl. Phourque was feelin sick.
September 21st, 2005
In an effort to continue my music hobby despite my lack of gear/records, I set up Reason 3 on Phourque's iBook. Nice program, does awesome stuff. Got a breaks tune coming together quite nicely, slowly figuring out the program... Though a mouse would be nice. I friggin hate trackpads - especially those with 'hidden' scrolling integrated. Maybe it's a good excuse to buy one of those nice new Apple mice. My head feels funny and it's that time where I have probably lost my objectivity on the track and it's time to take a break.
People here stop for pedestrians waiting to cross the street. Weird.
September 19th, 2005
Not a bad movie, pretty good effects. Entertaining I think. Funny jokes about the French. Ha Ha! Hon hon hon! Pesto Change-o! Warhammer 40K at the Metreon...
September 18th, 2005
At safeway, the bottles of alcohol have black plastic caps on them. Now, is that to prevent theft, or to prevent in-store consumption?
Liquids such as shower body wash, when used in cold climates, seem to get much thicker - the Lever 2000 we just bought almost has a half-set jello consistency. Probably what a Poring in Ragnarok Online would be like when popped. World of Warcraft is the new game of the day, but doesn't have the same cuteness factor as RO. But 'Yay' for Mac supported games.
The sun is out. WoW.
September 18th, 2005
Applying for jobs can be tedious. But if you submit a fun resume & cover letter once in a while it can be fun! Use words like "awesome", prefixes like "uber", and phrases like "I won't feign to be a 'god'..."
'Azriel' and I will probably try to check out local anime related events in the area - there seem to be some conglomerations of otaku-type-people at some Japantown Anime Festival. The pics from their site confirm the presence of cosplay activities. Gotta see that. I would say it's on par with the furry people.
Prosciutto (sp?) and chicken tortellini & Genshiken. A scrumptious combination. Looked into events happening music-wise to occupy a Friday night, but no appropriate entertainment manifested. When will Basement Jaxx play? Nightblind Jenny probably can't go to concerts.
September 16th, 2005
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