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December 29, 1999
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December 29, 1999
Dinner with friends Shan and Heather at their new townhouse. Although they were still unpacking a bit here or there, that in no way detracted from what is an excellent Bay Area home. It's comfortable, modern—marvelous kitchen, btw—and friendly. Erin and I really enjoyed comparing house-buying notes, too.Earlier in the day, Erin met with our friend, teacher, and biblical scholar, Brian, while I went to Los Gatos to watch the St. Francis Boys Soccer team lose 2-1. The team had the run of play in the second half but couldn't cash in on more than one of several opportunities. The team is substantially different than last year's, with only three returnees. (Two other players who would have returned are playing in Argentina and Italy respectively.)
In the morning, I got significant face time with Jared while helping Bernard with the online intricacies of eBay.
December 28, 1999
Watched Tea with Mussolini, a rather overly dramatized and somewhat hokey coming-of-age film set in 1930s and 1940s Florence, Italy. The beautifully filmed Italian countryside proved insufficient compensation for the terrible overacting of most the cast, the lack of narrative focus, and the Keystone Cops portrayal of the fascists. That said, Joan Plowright was excellent and it's ashame that director Franco Zeffirelli didn't focus the film on her.Bernard and I did the area Macintosh circuit, hitting CompUSA, Software and Stuff, and Fry's to see what deals might be had. I picked up up some $15 NEC computer speakers (update: they're working great). Item worth noting at Fry's: VHS tapes are being phased out. Most movies/videos were available only on DVD. I knew it was coming, but man alive that was quick.
December 27, 1999
Dinner with our friend Jennie at Le Mouton Noir, an upscale French restaurant in Saratoga. Definitely on the expensive side, but I don't think I've ever seen a meal so elegantly presented.December 26, 1999
Our friends Debi and Maurice—Japanese foreign exchange student in tow—were kind enough to drive down from Pleasanton to see us. Debi, a Spanish prof with the University of North Carolina, told us all about her new Spanish language CD. Sounds like she had a blast making it. Maurice works on SCSI cards for network servers for IBM and is busy on the next iteration of that product.December 25, 1999
Merry Christmas!December 24, 1999
Lots of iMac configuration fun with Erin's parents' Blueberry Rev. B. Excellent clam chowder dinner. White Elephant party has bro-in-law Joe coming away with a samurai sword. Beats the "Penis Pasta" he could've chosen. Met my nephew, Jared, and oh lordy, talk about cute.December 22, 1999
A lovely, clear day in which we had the opportunity to meet with Bruce, Matt, and Ginger and catch up on all the news. We'll be incommunicado for a bit as we do the holiday thing in California this year, but we'll be back before you know it. Best wishes, everyone, for a wonderful Christmas!December 20, 1999
We watched La Femme Nikita and A Bug's Life this evening. The former was directed by Luc Besson, and his stylish brilliance was on full display. Ultimately, the story is a little weak, but the craftsmanship here is undeniable. You can see it as much for how to make a film as anything else. It's Rated R for the boatloads of violence it carries, but I wouldn't call it gratuitous. French with English subtitles. Very well acted and directed.A Bug's Life is the Pixar Animation Studio's computer-generated second feature, the first being Toy Story. A Bug's Life tries hard and aims high but misses a fair amount of the time. Still, being as softhearted as it is, it's hard not to recommend. And of course the "outtakes" which appear as the credits roll are inspired—and the funniest part of the movie. Overall, it's a story which should have been funnier, but that's not to say that it isn't worth seeing at least once.
December 19, 1999
Pretty chaotic day. Upgraded my parents' G3 to MacOS 8.6 and installed a wide variety of ROM and firmware updates. Mom had the patience of a saint to sit through it all. Bret stopped by. He was down from Portland to do a little Christmas shopping. Friends Dave, Melissa, and Jake dropped in. Dave and I tested out my 10BaseT ethernet hub (works perfect!) and ran a variety of networked games in preparation for future LAN parties. Looks promising!December 18, 1999
Enjoyed a wonderful evening and dinner with our friends Mike, Joy, and Skylar. When we arrived at their house (which is out in the country a bit), we discovered the previous day's windstorm had knocked out power, and the only illumination in the house was candlelight. In many ways, this only added to the charm. The power was finally restored during our visit (and boy was Skylar excited about this), so after waiting a short bit to insure that this wasn't a temporary condition, we blew out the candles and turned the lights back on.Skylar, three years old, is running, jumping, talking—generally having a ball. As one might expect, he's highly enthused about this coming Christmas as well.
December 17, 1999
Well, I'm still coughing, but on the brighter side, I haven't hacked up a lung yet. I've been downing some Tussin DM stuff that is supposed to loosen the chest up a bit so that coughs are "more productive." Tell me, if an expectorant isn't working, does that mean it isn't meeting expectations?Erin and I watched a tape of TNT's recent version of A Christmas Carol, starring Captain Picard in a nightgown. Patrick Stewart was excellent, as usual, though I'm somewhat uncertain what made this faithful retelling of the Dickens' classic necessary. It was well done, to be sure, but I'm not sure that it brought anything new to the table as it were.
Having completed classes today, Erin is now on Christmas break and is eager to see family and friends. Despite my chest cold, I can't think of anything that sounds more agreeable.
December 15, 1999
These last few days have been wickedly irregular as my cold prevents consistent sleep. My mood remains buoyant enough (and Erin's is fabulous, but then again she doesn't have a cold). Now if only I could get this Christmas newsletter out.The auto shop threw a new battery into the 626, but remains unconvinced that the battery is the only problem. It figures.
I've updated my business web site, www.SiteRev.com, for anyone who might be interested. This is only the first real incarnation, so odds are good that I'll revise it several more times in the next year. For now, though, it's more than adequate, because I've got too much other stuff to do. (Get business cards printed, for example.)
I discovered a neat gift "wish list" at Amazon.com which allows a person to register for any of the items that the online retailer sells (books, CDs, videos, DVD, home improvement items, toys, etc.) so that others can get the person what he or she wants. I started my own registry (can't hurt!) in the remote chance that Santa might need some help.
December 13, 1999
Another day, another automotive dollar. The 626 again won't start up, appearing once more with the same "battery is dead" symptoms. Despite having the battery "okayed" just a week or so ago, I suspect it's the problem. I don't know what else it could be as the alternator was replaced a few months ago.My cold is hanging on despite my best efforts to medicate and hydrate it out of existence. Sadly, it's completely disrupted my sleep patterns, so my waking hours are now out of whack. I went to bed last night at 3 AM which, on the brighter side, is better than I did the night before.
December 9, 1999
My cold's not any better (probably worse, actually), but I am feeling better about my cable modem situation now that I've had a local TCI/AtHome/AT&T tech out to check things over. He went over my system and results were exceptional. My cable signal is very strong. So why the slow Internet access? Too many people, too little bandwidth. According to the tech, Salem should have everything upgraded by the 15th of this month, but he kindly gave me two months free service in the meantime. So I'll stop complaining for awhile. (Two months, to be exact.) And who knows, maybe on the 15th speeds will start a-rockin'.December 8, 1999
I've continued my bout with a cold and so far I'm probably behind on all the judges' score cards. Certainly I feel like I'm losing rounds right and left. I pretty much lounged and accomplished nothing today which would be all right if I felt like I was getting better. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, but by Friday, heck with this, I won't have to time to rest anymore. I've got too much to do.Report came out yesterday that teens who drink and use drugs have sexual relations much more often than their clean and sober peers. Stop me if I'm wrong, but isn't this exactly the type of news that should be kept under wraps? I mean, if I had known this when I was in high school, I think I probably would've been stoned and/or drunk all the time.
Speaking of sex in the news, how about the poor InfoSeek executive currently on trial for possessing child pornography and soliciting sex from a minor? He allegedly hit on some 13-year girl in a chat room (actually undercover FBI) then traveled from Seattle to San Monica to meet her. InfoSeek fired him the day he was arrested and rumor has it that he lost a cool $15 million in vested options with the company. All that money down the drain, and the techno geek still didn't get laid. Now there's a guy who should've gotten drunk or stoned in high school. He'd be $15 million richer.
December 6, 1999
Well, I welcomed cold and flu season into the household with a lovely head cold that's had me sniffling and sneezing for the last few days. I've hardly gotten any sleep (3 hours last night), but, strangely, I've not felt this energetic in months. I reworked a song this morning and completed (finally!) most of my SiteRev.com web site. (It won't be posted until I'm done, so expect a delay of a couple more days.)I also, believe it or not, watched both Ronin and You've Got Mail again to see if I'd missed anything the first time through. In the case of Ronin, I think I did. The acting here is even better than I thought (and I thought it was good), and the story actually holds together pretty well (though the voice-over at the end is idiotic). I figured out the tedious car chases, too: There's no music(!), just revving engines and squealing tires. No wonder they're so boring. So on second glance I'm going to give Ronin a thumbs-up. It's got some problems, but I think they're well-compensated for by the script and the acting.
This was not the case with You've Got Mail, and I've moved that material off-line for the moment. Expect to see a new Opinion piece shortly.
December 3, 1999
Watched two ho-hum movies tonight, Ronin and You've Got Mail.Ronin has good acting and interesting subject matter, but it's let down by excessively long car chases, too much violence, and an incredibly lame ending. Too bad, because Robert DeNiro is quite good. The movie should've been a lot better.
December 2, 1999
Traveled the roads to Portland to meet with my friend Garr and help update his new G4. Even got the chance hear his band loligo rehearse in the evening. Special thanks to the band for going over one my songs for me—insights, ideas, and constructive criticism much appreciated!Garr and I discussed at length the WTO situation. My take on it is this: 50,000 to 60,000 protesters marched the streets of Seattle in the finest traditional of American free speech and their voices were heard. About 250-300 people caused disturbances ranging from blocking the attendance of delegates to creating property damage. In some cases this was the work of self-proclaimed anarchists (sort of rebels without a clue), and frankly, despite my long-standing distrust of authority and government in general, I find myself rather hoping the heel of justice comes down rather hard on these people. There are appropriate ways to protest in a civil society, and burning shops and harassing police typically aren't among them.
There were today some complaints about police brutality regarding law enforcement's efforts at crowd control. I would not be terrifically surprised if it were true, but in the limited video of the events which I've seen police were giving fair warning in every instance. When you've got 50,000+ people on the streets, delegates from around the world, and the President of the United States all in the area, I would not expect the enforcement methods to be subtle or gentle, and again, I'm not sure that they should be for those in clear violation of the law.
Much of this cuts to the heart of what free speech and the First Amendment is all about. Freedom of assembly is guaranteed in the Constitution and 50,000+ gave us a fine example. The WTO delegates are also guaranteed freedom of assembly, and those protesters who stop them are breaking the law. They do not pass "Go." They go directly to jail, which in my book is where those exhibiting behavior like this belong.
