thanks....

well this is the week where we give thanks for all the special things in our lives. We give thanks for the people who are in our lives, the jobs we have, the possessions we possess, and the places where we live. I am grateful to live here in California and have the friends that I do. Sometime we forget what with all the shopping and madness of the holiday season.

This week has been especially thankful for me. For one I turned in my first draft to my thesis. I am well on my way to graduation! The thesis is nowhere near finished but I gave a copy to my advisor for feedback. I am shooting for a late January-early February graduation. I am planning to travel somewhere for a month or so then get a job! Yikes. responsibility... Not looking forward to that.

The other thing I am thankful for this week is I got to see this band perform live last night. That was a treat. I am grateful for my brother for loaning me their CD. Thanks bro.... it was a great show.
Have a happy thanksgiving...

Impressionist

Today is Claude Monet's birthday. He is 166 years old. He is famous for the Impressionist painting style that is showcased below. I noticed when reading about the period that the term impressionist was given by a critic who used the term sarcastically but caught on. I think that happens quite often in history. I cannot think about an example right now but I remember hearing about it. Monet was not the greatest artist in the world but I do enjoy looking at his work. He was an innovator and started a movement. Happy birthday Monet.
I received this image as a thank you card once. This bridge exists near his home.
Boats! I want to sail again. I have always wanted to take lessons but never seem to find the time.
Monet's waterlilies paintings are some of his most popular. Someone gave me a print of one a long time ago. It is over my bed right now.

Movie review...

This week has been a week of comps. Comped to the Rolling stones concert on Monday and yesterday my roommate invited me to a screening of Stranger than Fiction. Will Ferrell's new movie. It was good. Will's humor was subtle in this movie and not over the top like he usually does. Harold Crick is a IRS agent who winds up being a character in a novels story. He has the authors voice in his head who dictates every detail of his mundane life. Things get interesting when she says he is going to die.
All in all a good movie. It explores fate and how much we are in control of our life and if we could change it. I do not want to give things away but you should see it. Especially if you like the band Spoon because they are all over the sound track.

the results are in...

So out of 165,293 votes cast for governor in San Francisco, 437 were write in votes. So I received 0.000605% of the popular vote but 0.23% of the write in vote. Yes!!! I want to thank everyone for working on my campaign...

In SF 40% of the registered voters turned out to vote. Not bad for a mid-term election. We live in a left bubble in SF. All the democrats (governor, lt. governor, etc..) won huge margins in SF but that margin shrinks when looking at the entire state. California mirrors the US in that it is blue on its borders (ocean, mountains) but has a red center (central valley). California is fair and balanced which is a good thing. It looks like we will have a Republican governor and a Democratic lt. governor. Nothing will get done...

The dems won control of the house of representatives yesterday. What does this mean to you, you ask? I do not know. Hopefully they will find a way to pay down our deficit that bush has created with his war and policies. This should be their top priority but I think it will get trumped under gay marriage or getting the troops out. Politics as usual. I am glad I voted for myself.

voting rocks...

Today is mid-term elections day! So excited. I have been waiting for this since 2004! Senate races, state propositions, judicial nominations... it just does not get any better than this! Mid-term elections usually have the lowest voter turnout but since the guerilla movements to get more young voters active in the election process so I was confident things were going to be different.

so here is our sweet polling place in the persidio... So rustic, so pioneer...
I went inside and noticed there was a line to wait to vote. All the voting stations were also filled up. Good sign. P diddy did not let us down!!! (of course they were all working professionals in line)
Here is our gynormous ballot. It is huge! 5 pages too. Boy there were many ballot initiatives and propositions to get through as well as judicial candidates I have never heard of. These things take a while to fill out. With all the activity on the ballot and the negative political ads it is hard to keep all the issues straight. I did the best I could...

so when it came time to vote for governor I decided to vote for myself. I know this sort of is self-aggrandizing and silly but hear me out. Both candidates are smucks. Arnold is doing an ok job I guess and Phil, well he is a Republican in disguise. I was not sold on either one of them. I tend to vote 3rd party every election, since I feel the 2 parties do not represent me or my issues anymore. I know this sounds cynical but there are too many special interests in politics. Money rules our political system. I feel that since I am not corrupt and stand for my political issues and cannot be bought by special interest, my vote was not wasted.

So all in all I am sure whatever I vote on will not pass and all the bond issues will pass forcing us into debt. Well at least I got this sweet sticker for my bag. Happy voting!

Free tickets...

I get to see this band tonight for free. I definitely could not afford to go otherwise. Some say they are old and washed up and better when they had thier origonal blood in thier bodies but I am sure it will be fun. This band is opening so it is going to be a sing along fest. I cannot wait. Free tickets rock!!

gangs are lame...

so good work to the people who shot up the castro on Tue night. Nice work... Way to ruin it for the rest of us. Why does this always happen? Testerone and alcohol never really mix, they always create problems. Unfortunately they may shut down the Halloween in the castro. Sure it is a bit crazy at times but it is a San Francisco tradition. One always sees the best costumes down there. People take current news events and make it a costume. I love it. I remember making the trek out to the Castro when I was in high school. Hopefully Gavin and his cronies do not shut it down. Wait, didn't we vote to make handguns illegal in the city? What happened to that?