last week of freedom!

This is my last week of freedom before I start my new job.
Unemployment has been nice to me. I love taking 2pm naps. I will miss those but I am looking forward to working again and getting a big paycheck! I forgot what it was like to not be poor!

So what have I been doing to celebrate my last week of freedom? nothing, absolutely nothing. I am tidying up my thesis and working downtown identifying my insects. I really should have gone somewhere exotic or something. The trouble is that everyone I know has a job. I did not know anyone who wanted to travel. Oh well. At least I will get my thesis done before I go back to work. There seems to be a curse at SFSU where graduate students take jobs and forget to finish their thesis. I blame the high cost of living!

Well I better go take a nap!

55.56%...

If I was a mlb hitter, this number would guarantee me a spot in the hall of fame, but alas it sill is an F-.
I didn't do that well. Cars didn't win. I was sure that Scorsese was going to get snubbed but The Departed was the champ last night. Congratulations also to Little Miss Sunshine, the little independent movie that could.

Ellen was a great host. She kills me. Oh and I won a prize at the Becksteads Oscar party for predicting the shortest and longest acceptance speeches. I won this! What a fun night!

my predictions for tonight

I am seen lots of movies these past few weeks. That makes me totally prepared to predict tonight's winners. And here goes:

Best actor: Forest Whitaker
Best supporting actor: Djimon Hounsou
Best actress: Helen Mirren
Best supporting actress: Jennifer Hudson
Best animated film: Cars
Best picture: "The Departed"
Best director: Clint Eastwood
Original screenplay: "Little Miss Sunshine"
Adapted screenplay: "Borat"

We will see how bad I did tomorrow.

offically a tourist...

I actually stopped on my way to the dubose triangle to take a photo of these famous houses. you know, the full house houses. Gosh what a show, the Olsen twins had normal body mass indexes, John Stamos was the cool rocker dad, and who can forget the witty humor of Bob Saget. Man, he was funny... what ever happened to him?

I still cannot get over how this town is filled with so many landmarks, historical and cinematic. Alfred Hitchcock filmed part of "The birds" and "Vertigo" here. Countless other films and tv have been shot here. Growing up, my brother and I used to love watching the Streets of San Francisco. Great chase scenes. Who can forget that kick ass car chase scene in Bullitt. It would be fun to drive like that for a day. Maybe I should get my taxi drivers licence...

rain, rain...

yes... rain and snow...
I did enjoy this great spring time weather we have been having...
I should go skiing this weekend...

the sculpture district....

right next to where I park my scooter downtown when I go to work is the most interesting alley in the city. It is the site for "sculpturesite", a gallery showcasing sculpture of all kinds. They really spruce up this plain area between two buildings!

There are all sorts of sculpture available to see and all are for sale. I guess this is where you go if you need a large sculpture for your yard...

This is my favorite piece. As you can see the gallery is rather large...
Here is a look at the alley from 3rd street. it is spread throughout the space..


here is another view from my parking spot...
They really take up lots of room. The website says they rotate all the outside exhibits so that will be exciting to see. Go check it out whenever you are near the moscone center...

I am constantly surprised by our city. every time I go downtown, I see something new or, in the case of Market Street, crazy. There is always some hidden gem to find and explore. Art is literally everywhere. they leave it in the streets...

gun control...

I just got back from the great state of Utah. I was on vacation. It was relaxing. I even got to shred the gnar for a day. Unfortunately there is a small snow pack out there but it did snow on sun and there was 11 inches up top when we went. It was nice... Oh and I should mention that it was free.

While we were having dinner at sundance, a guy walked into a mall in Salt Lake and started shooting. He killed 5 people when he was done. A random act of violence that apparently does not happen in Salt Lake. A sad event for sure. What bothered me was this story that ran with the rest of the coverage on Tuesday. This law is a bad idea. Very bad. Sure, the guy was stopped by a police officer with a concealed weapon, but he is a police officer and is trained to shoot it. What we do not need is a bunch of yahoos pulling out their guns and start shooting in a situation like this. People are stupid, especially in crowded situations. Just look what happened when they released the new PlayStation. The last thing that was needed in that situation is a fool with a gun...

Gun control is a good idea, no matter what rhetoric you may hear. Yes, yes, we know it is a constitutional amendment and all but something has to change. I think it is a good idea to regulate ammunition as well as guns. Right now you can walk into any store and buy tons of bullets without any problem. Wouldn't it be better to regulate this? I know that guns don't kill people, people kill people or whatever spin the NRA puts on the issue but it should be harder to get bullets. Why cant we have a national database of registered users like the Dmv or something? I know, I know you are going to be inconvenienced by having to wait to get guns and bullets but seriously, things have to change. Guns kill too many people in our country compared to the rest of the developed world. Things need to change.

Happy V.D.

hope you had a good one!

cool map....

this guy made a map of the Interstate system for the entire United States look like a subway map.
check out the link...

rainy day...

yes, it is finally raining. I am so stoked... not only will there be a chance of snow in the mountains but we may avoid the chance of a drought this summer...

I have been thinking about droughts lately after reading "the worst hard time" the true account of the dust bowl. Timothy Egan does a great job writing about this moment in history. He intertwines personal accounts with facts and puts you into the lives of these people. His descriptive writing style allows you to experience what it was like to live through a dust storm. He describes the day to day struggle on the great plains and how the depression and drought killed a once thriving farm community. A great read.

After reading this account though, I was a bit concerned there was no rain in January and a pathetic snow pack in the mountains. I have not gone snowboarding yet this year because of the limited amount of snow in the Sierra. Hopefully this storm will add to the snow pack and fill our reservoirs in the foothills. A drought would be bad for California.
go rain go!!

seriously, a big a** boat...

Bex, Bets, and I scooted down to the docks to check out the boat. As you can see, many people also were interested...
The boat is huge. also at $21,000 a bargain... I am jealous that they are sailing around the world in 80 days... That would be fun...
but as I was looking at the boat all I could think of was Poseidon, that ship movie my roommate brought home a week ago. I do not know if you have seen it but this boat gets destroyed by a large wave and all I could think of was how big the wave would have to be to tip this beast...

Also we had a bit of a scooter trip. After the docks, we went to North Beach, my favorite neighborhood. I have never been to Manhattan but I imagine it is alot like North Beach. People yelling at you to eat at their establishments, taxis everywhere, no parking...
I never get to this neighborhood, usually because of the parking, but now I do not have to worry about that anymore. We ate here. It was a great sandwich... Also it was fun to drive around in a scooter pack like a biker gang.

big a** boat!!!!

coming home at 4:30 yesterday was a nightmare... traffic was at a standstill... At first I thought it was an accident, or a large Superbowl party, then I thought it was a sporting event... but no it was a boat...
Not an ordinarily boat mind you, but the biggest luxury liner in the world... It sailed under the Golden Gate and cleared it by 27 feet. Wow, i thought as I looked on the world wide web yesterday. It was crazy. People came from miles away to see the boat sail through the Golden Gate and into the bay. There was traffic for hours as people were trying to get out of the Presidio after the momentous event. Our quiet little street turned into a parking lot. Luckily I drove my scooter and was able to weave through the cars but that was a bit sketchy.

Bets, Bex and I are going to scoot over tonight and check this monster out! should be fun. Also, it is sweet the Queen Mary 2 is on a "around the world in 80 days" tour. So jealous!