Downtown SF

I arrived safely in San Francisco.

One hour at 10,000 feet in the air to cover 600 miles. 30 minutes tops traveling along and under the Pacific Oceans. 500 feet of walking to my hotel where two VERY attractive women checked me into my room and gave me cookies, of all things (I’m just glad to have spoken coherently while I was at the front desk, butthe cookies were very nice, too).

I walked from my hotel to Fisherman’s Whar in about 30 minutes. It took 45 since I stopped to say hello to Grace Cathderal along the way. Up Nob Hill and back down snapping pictures the whole way (to be posted on my return). A good training walk for the hike in September. Total distance is probably about two miles one way. I walked nearly three with the sight-seeing at the Wharf. I’ll try to grab dinner there on Thursday when I can get there at a better hour for it.

Took the cable car back. $5 for a one way pass! I’ll be seeing about something a bit better priced tomorrow since my seminar is at the top of the hill. It’s a good walk, but not one I want to sweat through before the conference.

The city itself is nice. I like London better, but this is close. Some people aren’t as nice, but there are more people my age and so it feels slightly more comfortable.

I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so many ads for iPod, though. The entire BART station near my hotel must be sponsored by Apple or something.

I’m looking forward to a good day tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll also get to do some more sight-seeing and grab some chocolate to bring to my friends back home. Requests for flavors may be accepted if you comment in a timely fashion…

Fire

Time to Start Thinking Again

Ze Frank has been doing a video podcast for the last year.  He’s been thinking so we don’t have to.  He posted his final show today (it was always stated to be ending today).

Now that Ze’s done thinking so we don’t have to, I guess we’ll have to be on our own.

Thanks for the thoughts.  You added a lot of awesomeness to the world.  Let us know what you do next, Ze.

The Machine is Us

I better it’s even more mind-blowing with beer.

Alter Your Perspective

A must read post from Daily Kos.

The 9th on 5/5/06

The Community Chorus of Redlands started back up last night and I got a date for the concert I’m really looking forward to.

May 5, 2006.  We’ll be performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Redlands Symphony Orchestra.  It’s quite possibly the most recognized symphony by most folks that you’ve never heard all the way through.  I highly recommend going to this concert.

You can see more information on the RSO web site (scroll down to the bottom for this one).  You can also get ticket information on this site.

We’ll also be doing other concerts throughout the Spring that I’ll post dates about as I learn more, but this is the big one and, really, the only reason I’m still doing CCR this Spring rather than waiting to return for Feast next Fall.

Believe in Mystery

I’ve started listening to NPR podcasts now that I’m walking to work more often. One of them is a weekly deal from the “This I Believe” series (which I love to hear on those rare occasions I listen to NPR in my car).

One from December really struck a chord. Particularly with the season, but also with the timelessness of the message and near-scalding burn it left on my spirit when I realized just how much this man was speaking from my own experience as much as his own.

Click on the “Listen” link when you go here. It’s much better heard than read.

Subscribe to the podcast yourself here.

800 in line, 790 disappointed*

The PlayStation 3 will be released upon us poor Americans in about 30 minutes. A couple of folks got in line in San Francisco to get their system. $500 or $600 (no game included) later for the first few and the rest will go home without the prize.

Is it worth it? The system I’m getting is $250, with a game, and they made enough of the things that I don’t have to wait in line for more than an hour (and that hour will be mostly meet and greet/nerd observation time and buying an extra controller). Is that worth it?

More on ArtRage

I’ve had some fun playing with ArtRage more. I’m finding it remarkably easy to “paint” things here. The different tools and colors also interact with each other. So if you blop some red paint with the brush, then yellow paint on the same point, the colors will start to mix realistically.

This is a lot of fun, folks.  I highly suggest you try it out if for nothing else than having a good time for an hour.

Why the Hell Am I Inside Painting?

The weather outside is perfect! Yet, I’m inside, sitting on my ass surfing the web for news of interest and catching up on the Geek Porn that is video game sites showing videos of them unpacking the new Wii. It’s kind of sad, yes, but my blinds are open. I have a great view of, well, the apartment building across the parking lot from mine. They keep their blinds closed on that side of the complex.

I did find something sure to interest more than two people, though. Or one. It’s ArtRage, an art program that loads over your entire desktop and lets you do some really fun stuff. It works on both PCs and Mac and there’s a decent free version that’s missing a few tools. Wonderfully easy to use and fun to play with, it does a wonderful job of looking fancy while being easy to use. The interface is amazing as well with toolboxes automatically hiding when the active cursor comes near them and dialog boxes bubbling in from no where.

Download the free version and have a great time!