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Journal (The Ember Update)Friday, May 31PhotographersWas looking through portfolios of two evolt.org co-founders and friends:
CartoonsHere are a few rather amusing political cartoons I've recently come across.
Friday, May 24The HijabI just read the fascinating "Why do Muslim women wear the hijab?" Here's a short excerpt:
PHKLOn a completely different note, I just discovered the Pink Hello Kitty Laptop! Chinkorama"Kate's Chinkorama" sounds great. I just listened to an hour-long interview with the comedienne and writer, Kate Rigg, during which she described the concepts and motivations behind her current work. She's funny and *very* sharp and I want to go see it.
Wednesday, May 22Sailboat racingA couple months ago I put out a notice that I was looking to crew on a sailboat, and more recently I notified some contacts I was given that I would like to join a racing crew. Here was my announcement:
I heard back from a slew of captains, and accepted an offer to try a day regatta near man-made Treasure Island, a site of the 1939-40 World's Fair (Golden Gate International Exposition). The boat moors at San Francisco Yacht Club, the first and oldest yacht club on the West Coast, at Tiburon/Belvedere. I went shopping for foul weather gear, shoes, a life vest, etc.—the only thing I already had was sailing gloves—and was mortified to find that on the frugal low-end of the scale I could easily spend $400. I gladly borrowed some old gear from a local friend. We met at the yacht club Saturday morning and I was surprised that the crew was so international. In addition to the US, countries represented included New Zealand, Scotland, England and Amsterdam. There were seven in all; I was the only female. Our boat was named "Shanti" which is Sanskrit for "Peace."
With our sails prepped, our captain, David, set course out of the marina and for the starting line, and on the way we discussed who was going to do what. I piped up and said mainsail was my favorite position, and was promptly granted it. Seems a guy who'd been doing main was no longer going to be serving on that boat, and my presence fit into that slot nicely. We had exactly the right number of crew for all the positions needed. This was a spinnaker race. As we hovered around the starting area (there were 10 starts planned for the different classes, 5 minutes apart) we commenced counting the guns in anticipation of our start, which was fifth. With our sails up and the spinnaker sheets ready, we commenced a few practice tacks, coming about and jibing in the strong and unpredictable wind. At one point the wind shifted, suddenly swung the boom around, and took one of the crew in the torso, nearly knocking him overboard. I was tending the mainsail lines at the traveller, and when they whipped past me the lines alone left a tender bump on my head (note to self: try not to sit so close). I could see that racing on the SF Bay was potentially a very wet and cold proposition. The view was gorgeous. We were in the northern end of the Bay and could easily see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, the Bay Bridge, and Berkeley/Oakland; all of San Francisco was laid out before us. Then something less than fortuitous happened. We discovered that one of the spinnaker lines had slipped overboard and wound tightly around the steering shaft close to the hull. Try as we might (with one guy dangling over the back of the boat, half submerged) we couldn't budge it. This was a potentially serious issue. While it didn't seem to be affecting our mobility at the moment, that could change and make it difficult to get back to the marina. We had no choice but the drop out of the race and remedy the situation. No matter, there were two races scheduled sequentially, so we still had a chance to participate. In an attempt to get out of the wind (which we'd clocked at a true 30 knots!) we chose a cove, sailed over and anchored. In no time we'd freed the spinnaker sheet. We took our lunch break, checked things, and headed back out. We couldn't find any of the race boats anywhere. We thought it odd, but what were we to do? We couldn't even locate the race committee boat. The next day I receive an email which said:
Another email said:
Well, I wish the second race had stood, but I'm thankful for the experience we did have. I had a great time, and look forward to our next race on June 1st!
Wednesday, May 15Moving IAlert: If you read this journal through my DigitizeThis site or evolt.org (not the mirror at Wunderland), it's going to disappear. I'm going to remove ALL personal stuff from my primary site (DT) and house it elsewhere, making DigitizeThis my professional presence. Or if I get too busy (see Moving II below) I might have to discontinue this altogether, though I don't really want to... EarthquakeI experienced my first California earthquake on Monday night. If you're interested, I've clipped a graphic from the US Geological Survey site showing the strength and location. I was at Rash's in Mountain View. He was in the kitchen closing the refrigerator door and turning around, and for whatever reason it didn't register with him. The room moved only for about two or three seconds, with several back-and-forth swaying motions. The epicenter in Gilroy was about 40 miles South so we just felt a little shaking (Rob in Oakland another 40 miles North of us said he just felt one jolt). I hear things fell off shelves in Gilroy, but nothing like that here. Here's how far we were from Gilroy (the red star near Sunnyvale is about right):
The only other earthquake I've experienced was an earth tremor in Thailand when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade (we lived in Bangkok). What happened Monday night was even milder. Moving III've been thinking about moving. Rents have gone down in the area and after 6 months here it seems that places more amenable to me would be North in San Francisco proper, or Berkeley or Oakland in the East Bay. While really nice, my current city of residence—Palo Alto— is almost too upscale (and certainly too expensive) for my tastes. I'd like to be around a more creative environment and culture. The three cities I've been considering would only take me about an hour from Rash (give or take, depending on traffic), which would be acceptable. Rash has expressed interest in the East Bay too. But then today I had an interview in the next town South, Los Altos. The interview was with the business-owning son of a friend, and I've passed the first round and will do another on Friday. He and his wife started the business, a print and web firm (and much more), 16 years ago. After cutting back from 12 to 5 employees over the last 18 months, they've gotten big contracts from Sun and Dolby and are ready to start ramping up again. I don't know yet if the job would be full or part time, or even on a freelance basis, but if I get it the locale may put a cramp in my desire to move North/East. I'd be wearing technical writing & editing hats, as well as web stuff, which should keep it interesting. In the meantime, my freelance work continues... The VisitThe visit from my mom and brother was fun, interesting, and sometimes rather frustrating. My understanding of just how vastly different my brother and I are was strongly reinforced when we butted heads repeatedly throughout the week. On the other hand, most of the time things went smoothly and we saw a good percentage of the sights and activities I wanted to fit in. We had a lot of fun. After experiencing balmy weather all week (with a bit of wind in the city), we drove to Lake Tahoe and got caught in a snowstorm at 33 degrees Fahrenheit. At the Donner Pass, no less. Some interesting cars and foliage: The Golden Gate Bridge and Mom: Lake Tahoe (with Robert) and the Donner Pass snowstorm:
Monday, May 6You lose some...Bad news:I've been notified that Google declined to move forward with the second interview. After that I got an email from my contact at Fannie Mae, telling me that the position they'd asked me to apply for has been dropped. They're going to hire another Java programmer instead. Good news:I've met a fellow named Rob who's starting a business and needs a combination of an e-commerce, information and community site (I especially have lots of thoughts about the latter). After meeting to discuss the project he's hired me on a freelance basis. At this point I've made very good progress on the information architecture, have started some print work needed for the product packaging, and am looking at storefronts (got an opinion?). I've also decided to create some illustrations/artwork, which Rob will consider for a couple of his product lines; it'd give me a reason to do art, which I'd enjoy (even if they're not chosen). Not only that, but despite his self-description as a misanthrope, Rob and I have become fast friends (as did he and Kristin and Andy ... more below). Also, I finally received payment for my ChevronTexaco stint, so I don't feel so poor (at the moment). The best news of all is that my mom and brother just arrived today for a 5 day visit! Not only that, but this evening my mom bought me a new Macintosh G4 (I'll reimburse her when finances permit). The new computer should really make my work easier (I just hope I can get all the software transferred smoothly...). Decriminalizing MarijuanaThree weekends ago I attended the NORML conference with Andy and Kristin (it was so great to see you guys!). In the process I learned a lot: I attended most of the lectures and gathered numerous flyers and booklets. I found one called "Drug War Facts" to be especially informative (download the PDF). The booklet's introduction states:
The NORML conference has served to radicalize me a bit. I still have a lot to learn, but I wholly support decriminalization efforts regarding marijuana. I've gotten a much better sense of how much we've spent on the War on Drugs and all of the negative impacts which have resulted. I'm not necessarily saying drugs are good, or safe, or that they should all be legalized, but I think our nation would be a much healthier place if we DECRIMINALIZED marijuana. Alcohol and tobacco have been shown to be so much more destructive (for example, marijuana is significantly less addictive than alcohol and tobacco, even caffeine!). I'd like to cite more facts here, but maybe another time. Check out the booklet! Bill Maher of "Politically Incorrect" fame lectured at the NORML conference in support of marijuana decriminalization (and he wished pot smokers like Harrison Ford and Ted Turner would come out of the closet). Woody Harrelson was supposed to speak as well, but couldn't make it this year (he's an avid marijuana activist who has attended in the past). Governor Jesse Ventura sent a videotaped message which was played at the conference, and also worth mentioning is that Carl Sagan was a long-time pot smoker, and his widow Ann Druyan is on the NORML Board of Directors. Also noteworthy was getting to hang out with entrepreneur John Gilmore (formerly employee #5 of Sun Microsystems, O'Reilly author, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, multimillionaire, drug policy reformer, etc.). Several of us agreed that John has a Christ-like aura. I don't mean the way he looks or anything (though one could perhaps make an argument for that), just the sense of transcendental peace he seems to have. According to Google Gilmore's web site is supposed to be here, but I haven't been able to access it (so I tried this cached page). Street signs to SedarisMy new employer Rob invited me over to an (apparently regular) gathering at a friend's house two Friday nights ago, in SOMA (South of Market Avenue). The host, Billy, rents a neatly decorated and attractive loft a couple blocks from the S.F. Museum of Modern Art , in a shadier part of town. Billy has the coolest little square yellow-plastic glasses (rimless on the bottom). He collects classic antique dolls/dollheads, street signs and fixtures (a fire hydrant painted pink, a stoplight with red and green arrows pointing to the yellow, etc.), rippling mirror (mylar?) tile maybe from the '70s (like 14" squares of mini fun-house mirrors), and is an excellent photographer (of rotting pumpkins and city graffiti ... some really cool stuff like I've never seen). Among the other guests was a guy named Craig, also a fabulous photographer. At one point we started looking through the square-formatted prints that Billy had picked up for the both of them, and Craig learned that I have a degree in art. We very quickly progressed into discussing each and every print, weighing the merits of slightly different compositions and depths-of-field among groupings of two or three very similar photos, and remained on this topic for somewhere around an hour. I hadn't had an academically stimulating conversation like that in I don't know how many years! I could tell that Craig enjoyed it too, 'cause at the end of the square color prints he pulled out a large stack of 8x10 black and white prints (I think from a class he's taking) and I had to say, "I'm sorry but I'm really saturated and couldn't do them justice." I look forward to our next meeting. Also at the gathering were Ted (with which I have an unfinished conversation), Jay and Susan. So during the evening (Rob, Craig and I were the last to leave at 1:00 AM) it was mentioned that several of the guests were going to see David Sedaris of "SantaLand Diaries" fame, David Rakoff, and Sarah Vowell (which you've likely heard if you listen to This American Life or NPR in general) in Berkeley on Monday April 29th. I expressed envy, but naturally the show was sold out. I met Rob the next day (after helping Kerin move in the afternoon) to discuss work-related stuff. Rob owns a really wonderful bungalow style Arts and Crafts house in Oakland, which (like Billy's) is very nicely decorated. We kibbitzed about work for a while, and then took a long, meandering walk all the way to Berkeley, getting dinner in the process (round-trip, including dinner, lasted 4 hours). I love to walk and talk, and I've never explored an area so permeated by the scent of blooming flowers. California is heaven. <sigh> The next morning Rob phoned me up to say they'd discovered they had an extra ticket for the Sedaris/Rakoff/Vowell show, and offered it to me. I was stoked (only I wished there was one for Rash too)! I packed up my mini-disc recorder and met Rob and his buddies just before the show ... but like a dummy I decided not to record it at the last minute. What a silly mistake! The show went like this: all three satirists/storytellers came out at the same time, and took seats. Sedaris was the first at the podium, followed by Vowell and then Rakoff. Then to my delight they rotated through again: Sedaris, Vowell and Rakoff. All of their stories were interesting and funny, sometimes fall-off-your-seat hilarious. Sedaris told of growing up as a gay guy with a sympathetic older sister (Amy) and the younger brother they couldn't make feminine no matter how hard they tried. Vowell discussed her fascination with Teddy Roosevelt and associated visit to North Dakota. I've wracked my brain, but as funny as he was, I can't recall a single subject that Rakoff covered. I love his dry delivery, though. Anyway, if you are curious about what you're missing, you can find and listen to bits by Sedaris and Vowell on This American Life's Staff Favorites page. For Rakoff, check out these two pages.
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