Monday, January 31, 2011

This will be interesting. Jerry Brown asks for republican support - while sounding more conservative than any of the repubs in this state. Which was confusing.

A sign of the times.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Meh-serati.



In silver no less. Which isn't even a color! I only noticed it by accident because there was a big fugly rainbow over Frys.

You can see it basically blends right in with the Hyundai next to it.

I'm at breakfast and the table next to me has been reading aloud religious poetry. The whole time.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The vultures are circling.



I have to be honest - I don't know if the Egypt thing is good or bad. Even today. And I've been glued to the coverage. Egypt wasn't even on my radar for meltdowns. I had been watching Tunis pretty carefully.

The only stuff I'd learned about this area came from Mr S's sister - who went on vacation in Italy. Fell in love with a guy from Tunis. (Tunisia) Came back home. Picked up her dog. Went back and married the guy. Wound up living there for "a while". It was obvious to everyone but her that he was in it for a green card.

Everyone was really nervous at the time because it was near the start of the war. And she is lilly white.

By all accounts Tunis was a very tolerant place. Even in a very tense period in time. They even loved her dog. Which at the time culturally was not accepted.

The more interesting part is that pretty much everyone from Tunis goes to work in Italy or similar parts. So I guess it isn't that surprising that these areas are starting to melt down now. Tunis never really had work. If there isn't work elsewhere - there isn't work.

So, when I saw there was going to be a sympathetic protest today in SF - I had to go.

Sadly - half of the crowd was the usual suspects of communism. The socialist workers.



With Che on the down low.



International Answer. They were fully a quarter of the crowd. Pslweb.org also there.



Mumia Abu-Jamal sympathisers. Which really stood out. The chick was so white. Which marked her as a commie straight up.



I don't know who this group was. From the signage - they are clearly a commie group. The colors and the fist representation.



These groups always show up to protests, but the ratio of them to real people was noticeable.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

All elbows.



Today, I'm kind of in a surly mood about contractors.

I've been trying to get my yard prepped for sod installation. So if it ever rains again, nature will help me get it established.

A few weeks ago we took out those concrete pads, and needed to re-run some of the sprinklers to give that area coverage. Which normally would be no big deal. Except I found out pretty quickly the previous contractor was a huge bill padder. And just generally - an asshole.

Giving the contractor the benefit of the doubt - his reason for installing all these elbows is so you can tilt the sprinklers left/right, up down. Except it doesn't actually achieve this result. Max you get one turning radius. I especially love the combination of metal parts and plastic parts. Metal has got to be three/four times the cost of plastic.



Not to mention - every junction is a leak point. And, it's not even like a lot of money in parts. But you just know this is the kind of guy that soaked the old woman that lived here for the install. They charge a lot of money for this stuff. It isn't rocket science. Just labor intensive. So they can get away with it.

Oh, I can't forget about all the places where he ran pipe where it just ran back in the direction it came.



I do look forward to my new water pressure. Still - I only tore out half of the sprinklers. I hope I don't get a bug up my ass to tear out the other ones.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I guess it could be worse - I hear Chavez speaks for hours and hours on Sunday.

Can President Money Bags promise more things to more people, or what?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Take this double rainbow guy!



With video. My narration is retarded. I'm not great at talking to myself. Plus you have to be at the right angle, looking up at the sky, trying to hide behind a structure - so the video isn't all washed out by the sun.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

For another day.



I wasn't trying to be all hipster doofusy on the picture. It was the last sliver of light on my property. Possibly the world. Dramatic much? Why yes, thank you.

I'm too tired to actually be hipster doofusy by reshooting the shots right now.

I didn't find MacWorld to be that interesting. The only thing I did find interesting - caused me to sit on a waiting list for a whole year. Seriously. And I still wanted it oh so badly.

It's a USB power outlet.

So you can use the plugs - and charge your stuff via USB. All at once. The days of having a drawer full of power converters are almost behind us. And I'm going to take a hammer to every single one. They are all different sizes and shapes. Eff them.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

R8 in the wild.



I don't know why the street lights never go red when you need to text - or you want to get a shot of the less common convertible Audi r8.

All of a sudden you can get from one side of town to the other without stopping. Which makes it hard to get good shots.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Seriously. I'm one day away from gainful employment as a cat driver. Without the gain. Or the employment.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Trailer parking for dummies.

I finally picked up my mini dozer this afternoon. I've never run a dozer before. But they are awesome. This particular dozer has treads, which make it so it can turn on a dime. Maturity on my part stops me from just doing donuts in the yard. Well, also I don't think I have enough room to rip out the front lawn. But if it weren't for that - donuts.

Oddly the hard part about the dozer is the bucket. This is something that a little experience is definitely a benefit. Also my yard is lumpy so it isn't as easy as dropping the bucket and waiting for magic. It takes a little skill to run a good line. It turns out my husband is amazing at this. Amazing!

We both apparently suck at backing trailers up. Which I didn't expect.

I wanted to back the trailer up to the rock bin to secure it. Making it so it is sandwiched between the bin and my truck. I didn't want to "lose" this trailer.

I couldn't do it for the life of me. I kept jackknifing it. I was sure if I could just get the truck and the trailer in a straight line I could just back it up.

Yeah. Not so much.

Finally we both decided we were going to park a car in back of the trailer. But as I was bringing it around the block I stopped and asked one of the car guys down the block how to do it. He has trailers all the time to carry his cars. He wound up just coming down to do it, and I drove him back home in the chrysler. Awesome.

Although I still don't know how to do it. I was in just such awe of how good he was at it I wasn't paying attention to how he was turning the wheel. No matter which way I turned the wheel the trailer wanted to turn into the street.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

You can't see what is under the ground.

I'm going to try to get this out early because by the end of the day I bet I will be cranky. The rental place woke me up at 8:00 to say the baby dozer I was renting for tomorrow is available today.

Which makes me have to rearrange my plans. After I already rearranged them because the dozer wasn't available today. Suddenly it is. I think the guy who was going to borrow it - upgraded. Whatever.

Since I initially couldn't get it for today - I thought I would have a leisurely day finishing the sprinklers I worked on all day yesterday. This basically involved a lot of "guess where this goes". Something I thought I would take me a couple of hours is going to take a lot longer because of the crazy configuration they took. I'm sure it seemed logical at the time - but is making my life miserable.

I have one whole line that doesn't go anywhere. But I can't just just cap it off. I know before I leave this place one of those lines is going to leak. If I just don't trace it back - I will go through the whole process again. It's better just to suck it up and remove what I can.

This is all. For now.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

You can't have anything nice.



Not only is the graffiti pretty random - it's like 50 feet from a pie restaurant.

Friday, January 14, 2011

I think it will be less sucky.

It's taken me a little bit to get back on track. My cold has made me constantly tired. The weather I'm completely over. I got up this morning, saw the sky was some flavor of white - which made me blurt out profanities. The sky is almost blue now, so I have the strength to carry on. Whew. Close call.

I used to post on the weekends all the time, but I stopped trying to fight the trend. People just don't read on weekends. Then all of a sudden everyone shifted. I've been getting a lot of weekend traffic - so I guess I will make an effort again.

Today I rented a rock bin. Which is basically a long short dumpster. This should be a non story. Except this is California. I literally spent an hour trying to give them the exact ratio of dirt to concrete that was going to exist in the bin. I had to fill out nine pages of forms. But oh, don't stick any of those pages in the bin. They are not dirt or concrete. This will trigger a stage five hasmat alert.

I was actually a little afraid. In California - dirt is not organic. But rather an implied toxic substance. I wouldn't be surprised if they took a soil sample to make sure the ratio of carbon to other substances was just the right consistency. Bastards.

Half the people in this state think too much of their need for progeny. If a few of them get mutated, who could tell the difference anyway?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Dog and Butterfly into the air we fly.



Well worth the cost of personalized plates, because it made me smile. And yes - the world exists to entertain me. But you knew that.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Oh - Here go hell come.

If there is anything you need to know about me - it is that I hate doctors. Will do anything not to go. Even had the occasional thought of - I wonder how much of this pet antibiotic I need to take to get me up to a human dose. Which I know sounds crazy and I've never done. No! Never.

Doctors are fine people, but I spent way too much time in hospitals when I was young. Despite the fact that when I was young, we were poor - and poor people didn't see doctors. Unless you were going to die. And well.. I'm still scarred to this day.

Anyway. Today I had to make my semi annual visit to my primary. Who was running an hour and a half behind schedule.

The other thing you need to know about me is that I am not a patient person. Wait. You already know what about me. Don't you?

Double anyway. Two people in the waiting room pretty much flipped out. One flipped to another doctor. Which I would have done but couldn't this time.

Finally he came to see me. I'm pissed but think - he is way behind. And I'm prepared to be super quick because I'm pissed. And it's like three degrees outside/inside. All my fatty bits are effing cold! And it's 1:30 and I haven't eaten anything.

Oh... but it didn't go that way.

First five minutes he talked about his Christmas party. Where he served wine. So the second 5 minutes we talked wine. You know pleasantries. I think I'm home free. No.

Next 20 minutes we talked about him starting a new practice. Which must be why is was so behind. Finally at around 30mins in I quickly rush through my stuff. But he has this prescription laptop that takes 10 minutes to fill out a effing prescription.

After doing so, he tells me to be careful if I have to drive on the narcotic cough syrup he just prescribed, and that if I do drive and get in an accident - not to "freely admit" to being on said cough syrup. Which is of course why you put up with all this shit.

He is a really good doc, and if I was a random patient all this would sound crazy. He and I have sort of an unconventional relationship. What am I saying? I have an unconventional relationship with everyone I know really.

The whole thing just put a crater into my whole day. And that is irritating.

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Pioneer heads up display.



Hard to see, but the display is showing a map.

Military pride.







San Jose car show on Sunday.

Friday, January 07, 2011

In the future, credit cards will have lights and buttons.



This is a pretty dry video - but at least take a look. Credit cards of the future are pretty fascinating. I actually found this to be one of the more interesting things at the show.

Jerry Pournelle sighting at CES.



Mr S. wanted me to post this picture. Because if there is anything we glean from my you - is that you all are readers. Most likely scifi readers. He thought you'd enjoy this shot. I didn't know who he was.

I, of course, am illiterate and riddled with ADD. So, if its longer than three pages, I probably won't read it.

Jerry is quite spry for an 80 year old. I got two shots off, then lost sight of him. Tried to track him down, but he'd vanished in three seconds. Which was amazing since he was wearing a tan jacket and most people were wearing dark suits.

Sidenote - I just realized I got Mr S. in this shot. He's to the right looking down.

Window washing robots might not be bullshit.



I've been watching this technology for a while and had declared this to be a bullshit technology. I might have been wrong.

I figured the magnetic system would be too abrasive for most windows which are not made of glass anymore.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

You will call it sphincternet. You will.
OMG! Home endoscope. Your butt is going 2 have a twitter feed.

Now updated with pictures.



I have no idea what kind of debauchery this is going to lead to. Okay - that is a lie. The internet shows me a lot of crazy shit. So, I have somewhat of an idea. I guess they are just giving the public what they want. And, they want to see inside themselves.

Make bets now.
Before i leave today im gonna beat someone with a scooter or rolling suitcase.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Take my poll. ------>

Monday, January 03, 2011

Oh yeah. It's Monday.

Yesterday I started switching my schedule from going to sleep at 2, to getting up at 4 in the morning. Yeah, us techies don't keep banking hours. I figured if we altered our schedule early - being in Vegas might be less exhausting.

This of course made me completely loose my mind. Meaning I locked myself out of the house this morning. I've only done this a couple of times in my whole life. So, I had to meet up with Mr S. to get his keys. Then I figured I might as well fill up the car with gas.

Now, I'm going to segue back to yesterday. Where I bought some of those barefoot running shoes. CES leaves my feet mangled for weeks. Blisters, and I get a bruise under my big toe nail. Every year! And I'm active. It feels like you walk 75 miles. But, its probably only 5. Still.. my feet pay and pay and pay.

These barefoot running shoes keep your toes all separated so stuff doesn't rub. I started wearing them today so I could make sure something didn't pop up unexpectedly. I didn't think anything of it. And of course I am a little disjointed because my day is starting off weird.

Back to the gas station. I have to go inside because the machine won't take my card. I'm trying to tell the cashier this when the guy behind me becomes all fixated on my shoes. He wants to see the soles and wants to talk about them. Which is fine but totally fragments me out. I'm trying to deal with the cashier and the guy who is fascinated by my shoes.

Everywhere I've gone this morning people have noticed them. Which I didn't expect. I'm functionally shy and like to prepare for things that are going to garner a lot of attention. I didn't think these shoes would be something that did that. They do.