It's Frobuary 1, YOMHC 0x4b, a balanced, attractive, thin mohawk.
i really needed a haircut, stat, after arriving home from the vacation.
September 2009 Archives
it's Frobuary 2, YOMHC 0x4a!
too short, too fat. oh well. it will grow in by the time i need it, and in the meantime, it'll be nice and cool for the ride.
i kinda dig where i live.
some of my snootier sf friends give me a lot of crap about living in "the burbs". they will admit (snootily) that their time living in sf has caused them to experience a failure of distinction between any places non-sf, such that they claim that they honestly cannot perceive a difference between a place like san mateo and, for instance, antioch or bakersfield.
such an absurd claim would be made jokingly by me, but i think they're telling the truth.
anyhow, on saturday, i hopped on my bike, hauled ass down to sand hill and portola, tooled around a bit waiting for my hetero life mate to arrive, biked all over the long, hilly, and eminently bike-friendly roads of the south peninsula, then rode home. we then walked downtown and had some fro-yo, and came home for a nap. around dinner time, some pals arrived and we walked back downtown to the bistro, where we were greeted warmly and given a special table. the owners and wait staff all know us -- they see us walking around town and we say hello, all the time.
we deferred the wine choices to the bistro's owner (though we did it wrong: we should have made it clear we would have two bottles so that we wouldn't have to spare the first until the food arrived), enjoyed the food, and were given a free dessert. on the way out, the owner dispensed hugs to us.
after that it was off to the bar. on the way to the bar we popped in to fish waffles to say hello, where the fish-waffleiers were happy to see us.
at the bar we go to, we can't get a good cocktail, because, as we discussed with the bartender, the bar stocks only crappy bourbon, which is odd, because they have an uncharacteristically good selection of scotch. we spoke at length about various things, and she said she enjoyed the home-roasted coffee we gave her last time, and that she'd try to bring us back some green kona on her trip to hawaii. then, off to see "district 9", which i thoroughly enjoyed.
the next day, we biked some more, visiting the pulgas water temple -- a very pretty park with an outrageously ostentatious greek-style parthenonian thingy built over an aqueduct. because of the location, it is accessible nearly only by bicycle, so the few people that were there with us had all arrived by cycle: my kinda folk.
after that, it was naptime, another visit to the fish waffles, and a surprise discovery of most excellent chinese food at a new chinese restaurant downtown.
yesterday, monday, we surprise-invited our upstairs neighbors to a hotdog bbq. their precocious 3 year old always says she wants her daddy to get a grill like mine (heh) and happens to love hot dogs.
last wednesday, during a speech i gave at a conference, i spotted an audience member with distinctive facial hair. afterwards, i asked him if he roamed san mateo, and he said he did: we're having a business lunch later this week.
in short: i spent pretty much the whole weekend interacting with my community and its inhabitants. i don't have 20 excellent restaurants within walking distance, and i don't have even 1 good cocktail bar. i don't have dirtbags, hobos, and crack addicts, either. What I've got is some of the best cycling in the country, and a community that is happy to have me -- a community that actually notices me. perhaps someday i'll feel differently, but at this point, that (and reasonable rent) are quite a lot more important to me than living someplace with better food, better liquor, and more smarm-appeal.
also: i just found out that there's an apple store in the hillsdale mall, so san mateo just got a little smarmier!
it's Frobuary 3rd, YOMHC 0x49!
the combs for the oster will finally arrive this week, so next haircut may (or may not!) feature some trimming of the mohawk itself.
for now, though, just the regular old bare-metal on the sides. i took my pimply scalp into the aveda store whilst obtaining some of the face stuff that i use from them. i heartily endorse the face stuff: external peace or something, foaming facial cleanser. now, i know you're surprised to find that a big tough mohawk-sporting bike grease covered ass-kicking machine like myself uses a facial cleanser. but when used daily, it keeps my mug pimple free, which is more important than you'd think for kicking ass while covered in bike grease.
anyhow, without the assistance of visual aids, we explained the problems of my pimply scalp to the enormously nice woman at the aveda store (it being the american sabbath, my head was covered, in the most american of kipas, my yeehawmica). she steered us toward the "products for men" section and gave us some shpiel about men having thicker scalps than women. who cares about the science? do i look like a scientist? i just want a happy scalp.
luckily for me, the men's shampoo was advertised explicitly as "scalp calming". that's just what i need, for my angry scalp.
anyhow, stay tuned. i'll let you know.
if i can get rid of the pimples, i might well upgrade my oster to the #00000 blade and go waxy. i'm starting to feel a little too hairy with .5mm.
as don rumsfeld once said (paraphrasing): "you don't post to the blog with the story you want to post, you post to the blog with the story you have at the time".
this isn't the blog post i wanted to make, the post changed at the last minute.
sherman and i were hauling down through the obstacle course, or, at least, moving as close to "hauling" speed as sherman can get, which would probably be around 21mph.
i was riding near the yellow, chanting my obstacle course mantra: six hundred dollar wheels, six hundred dollar wheels, six hundred dollar wheels... when i heard a honk from behind. i waved, as if to say: six hundred dollar wheels, not to mention, friend, a new seatpost of unknown cost and also potential spinal injury.
my wave also said: i hear you buddy, but in california, i am entitled to the entire lane and i'm not going particularly slow and also: six hundred dollar wheels.
that's when i got the long horn.
the driver laid on his horn and didn't let go of it while i was "in his way". i didn't abandon my position of wheel safety until i reached the stop sign, after which there is an honest-to-god bike lane, which i entered. the driver passed me: a brand new Ford Jaguar with no plates. Ah, one privileged asshole pissing off another privileged asshole. The world was in harmony!
Once he passed me, he made it to 3rd avenue to be held up by construction. Ha! Ha ha ha.
Prior to that, and frankly, including that, I had a great ride. I was plenty-o-tired from yesterday's hill attacks, stressful work, yucchy filipino dinner, and hours-o-civilization.
So we took it easy. Cruising down flea street I saw a sign for "san mateo garden center". i took the next available u-turn and went exploring. the garden center is apparently just a big park across from a school. i kept on moving, and ended up in a nice little climb up 26th ave, at the top of which is a cul-de-sac and a most gorgeous house. the cul-de-sac had a gate, beyond which there appeared to be some sort of art museum. i tossed sherman over the gate and re-mounted. it turned out to be more of an office building than a museum.
as i rode up the hill, past lots of abandoned office buildings, i suspected i was on Campus Drive. I saw the "Campus Cafe and Cat ring" (missing letter, har har har!) and then the superman rods sculpture and knew i was right. Campus drive! I know people who used to work there! Some of them even read this blog once in a while.
So I ended up at the top of hillsdale without killing myself. that was nice. I took de anza back home and reflected on how sherman likes to take it easy. in fact, he seems to shift himself onto the 24T chainring at the earliest opportunity. he says: hey dude, you payed for the 24T, why not use it?
who am i to argue?
"The White House has said the speech will emphasize the importance of education and hard work in school, both to the individual and to the nation. The message is not partisan, nor compulsory, officials said."
"A direct channel from the POTUS" -- this dumbass "engineer" is afraid the president might convert his kids to communists?
i was fortunate enough to meet Ronald Reagan when I was a kid. I was too young to understand politics -- as are, no doubt, the kids of Brett Curtiss -- but I was well old enough to appreciate the rare opportunity to meet a person of such lofty position.
I'd like to think my parents would have also let me meet Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, had I been born a lot earlier or a lot later.
But hordes of tards in Texas are keeping their kids from the chance to be inspired to political careers out of some idiotic fear that the POTUS is going to use communist mind control rays on their brainwashed kids.
The notion that just listening to the elected president of this country is dangerous to children is pretty offensive.
The Republican Party chairman in Florida, Jim Greer, said he "was appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
Uh huh, because Obama's teh first president ever to tour the country and speak to people. What?
And don't forget, smarty pants, President Obama's socialist ideology got him elected fair and square. He's already converted half the country to his socialist ideology! Oh dear!
And Chris Stigall, a Kansas City talk show host, said, "I wouldn't let my next-door neighbor talk to my kid alone; I'm sure as hell not letting Barack Obama talk to him alone."
Well now, KC, you might want to go consult your dictionary, I don't think you know what "alone" means -- I do believe it does not involve a gym full of kids and teachers.
School officials in Wylie decided to record the speech, review it and then let individual teachers show it, offering students the opportunity to avoid listening if they wished.
will they issue earplugs for the students who don't want to hear that if they study and work hard, one day they can be president?
Some Houston parents, however, said telling children they should not hear out the president of the United States, even if their parents dislike his policies, sends the wrong message -- that one should not listen to someone with whom you disagree.
I think there just might be some merit in listening to people who have climbed to the top of their field, even if they hold views your parents don't like.
so i did some stumbling about and encountered this:
http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/10/27/mining-activesupport-object-returning
i understand ruby, which is great, because the linked "explanation" of the K combinator really doesn't do it for me.
but ruby's 'returning' is now the coolest thing i've learned all day.
