May 31, 2007
used to be me
now that google maps is doing street-level views, i thought i’d check it out. look, here’s my house!
alas, it’s only my old house. my new house is too burby for this. good thing, too, because it looks like the image interpolation makes it look like our building is falling over or has severe earthquake damage.
May 30, 2007
this is the dumbest thing i've ever seen
Bloomers Baby Diaper Cakes offer fresh and modern designs in a variety of styles/colors and sizes. All cakes are set on a silver scalloped cake platter, decorated with silk flowers, and topped with a lovely porcelain baby block before being wrapped in white tulle, tied with a satin bow, and secured with an old-fashioned diaper pin.
Each tier of the baby diaper cake is tied with pink and white polka dot grosgrain ribbon and decorated with delicate shades of pink and cream roses. This is a perfect choice for a new baby girl.
A must-have for any new mom, our unique cakes are the ideal way to say “Happy Birth Day!” or “Welcome to the World!” They make a gorgeous baby shower centerpiece, a delightful hospital gift, or a charming decor addition to baby’s first room.
“This is the hot gift in Hollywood..” - Today Show
Stage 1 diapers up to 14 lbs. Flowers subject to slight variations. These diaper cakes are custom made to your order. Please allow extra time for delivery.
May 28, 2007
maya papaya
mamaluna had her baby early this morning. say hello to my goddaughter! so far, she’s a very accomplished sleeper.
May 25, 2007
fornicating dance bunnies
oddly enough, this is how i feel about my job right now. something along the line of “these fucking bunnies are driving me crazy.” or “i wish these bunnies would STOP FUCKING ME.”
May 24, 2007
now i can move to oakland
fucking awesome:
I-580 connector reopens
(05-24) 20:53 PDT — Interstate 580 through the MacArthur Maze reopened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday — just 26 days after a gasoline-fueled inferno caused it to collapse.
The first vehicles rolled east on I-580 from the Bay Bridge toll plaza and passed over the 165-foot stretch of newly laid freeway. A short time earlier, workers ripped canvas and plastic blankets from the concrete roadway poured Sunday afternoon, spritzed the deck with curing compounds, applied lane stripes and gave it a good sweeping.
“First of all we want to thank everyone for their patience,” said Bob Haus, spokesman for Caltrans after the reopening. Asked why Caltrans didn’t wait until the middle of the night to reopen the maze — when traffic is almost non-existent. “Our attitude from the beginning was that as soon as it’s ready to open, we’ll open it.”
…
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to make an appearance at the site of the repair on Friday.
although, is this really a good idea? i’ve seen countless documentaries where things start blowing up once arnold shows up.
i'm amazed
MAZE MELTDOWN
DAY 26
Projected reopening: Friday
Late in the day, workers will put the finishing touches on the rebuilt 165 feet of the Interstate 580 connector. Once the concrete has cured for 96 hours, the workers will remove the burlap and plastic blankets used to help the road deck attain maximum strength and durability. Then they’ll dry the surface, apply a curing compound to extend the life of the concrete, sweep the roadway, and put down lane and shoulder stripes.
The connector will reopen in time for the Friday morning commute.
note the contract called for it to be rebuilt by the end of june. and the contractor originally thought it wouldn’t be until june 2nd or so. but tomorrow? sweet jebus.
May 23, 2007
kitchen conundrum
i remember (and hmc is no doubt tired of me retelling) that when i moved into my apartment, i unpacked everything in a day.
somehow, it’s not happening this time.
certainly, we’ve got more stuff, but more than half of it is crammed into the thankfully large basement, some on shelves, some not yet on shelves-to-be. and of course we’re dealing with two people’s worth of stuff into a small three bedroom, instead of one person’s stuff into a spacious one bedroom.
still, you’ve got to have goals, right? i don’t want to be one of those people living out of boxes two years down the line. although maybe that would be convenient if we decide to move to lost angels 18 months from now— just throw them back on the truck!
i was shooting to have everything unpacked by this weekend, since hmc’s brother is going to graduate from sfsu, so all these in-laws may potentially swarm into our house. it’d be nice to have it at least semi-presentable.
HA.
what’s really got me perplexed is the kitchen. now don’t get me wrong, i like our new kitchen. and it’s certainly bigger than our old kitchen, which as you see in the picture is by some standards teeny. although as it’s turning out, teeny like a fox! all those clever built-ins provided surprisingly ample space, and now that we’re in our new kitchen, i’m realizing that the surfeit of floorspace doesn’t really help me store actual kitchen items.
one of the big problems is the lack of usable wall space. all the walls next to the counter are tile, which is nice and pretty, but then where does my global wall-mounted magnetic knife rack go? i suppose i could drill through the tile and mount it, but do i actually want to? and where does my wall-mounted half-dome pot rack go? consequently, where do my pots go?
it seems that the large refrigerator that doesn’t fit underneath the cabinets next to the stove takes up the prime corner where maybe some shelves and/or a pot rack would go. but do i really want to get rid of my fridge? or get a smaller one? perhaps one of those rolling islands is the answer?
sigh, i know, this is eminently boring. but this is what is first and foremost in my mind ALL THE TIME NOW. this is what happens when you buy a house: you become boring and home-improvement oriented. the last three places i’ve shopped have been home depot, bed bath and beyond, and home depot. i’ve spent my evenings moving shelves around, rearranging pantry and dishware into different configurations, and cutting shelf lining to scale.
meanwhile, people are making plans to
hang out with jon bon jovi.
and all i can think about is, “where is my colander going to go?”
May 22, 2007
damn criminal-inducing ecstasy!
there’s that whole lucrative city of piedmont in the way, but still, this isn’t exactly comforting news:
Oakland’s Lakeshore district becoming a magnet for criminals
Oakland’s Lakeshore Avenue district, with its well-kept streets and mom-and-pop stores and restaurants, has escaped much of the city’s crime woes in recent years. But not anymore.
The neighborhood and popular business district near Lake Merritt has become a favored target of armed thieves and bandits. Residents are angry or scared — and one of them decided to take matters into her own hands last week.
…
In March, more than a half-dozen businesses on Lakeshore Avenue were robbed, including two heists at Arizmendi, a popular bakery co-op. A month later, armed street robberies started cropping up in the neighborhood — seven in a month.
And if it wasn’t clear that something was amiss, the three robberies in a two-hour period on the night before Mother’s Day were a convincing blow. Brazen, hooded bandits robbed a pedestrian on Mandana Avenue, struck another one an hour later on Perkins Street in nearby Adams Point, and yet another less than an hour later on Grand Avenue. The victims were out walking their dogs or coming from a movie, community leaders and police say.
…
Police Lt. Ed Tracey, who commands the district that includes Lakeshore and Grand avenues, told a crowd of more than 100 people that criminal crews being driven out of East Oakland by an ongoing police crackdown there are venturing into other areas of the city.
Tracey said a sustained effort to clean up a crime-ridden section of 23rd Avenue has resulted in a wave of new crime during the last 18 months in middle-class and upscale neighborhoods and retail districts that had been relatively crime-free.
…
“We have been putting a lot of pressure on 23rd Avenue, and just like the cops, the bad guys talk with each other,” Tracey said. “They are looking for easy access, people with cash on hand … when the cops aren’t around because we’re in the Highland neighborhood, or in San Antonio (district) handling another call. When that happens, it creates a gap in service and they’re taking advantage of it.”
…
Police have also identified a troubling new trend: Some of the young suspects are users of the drug ecstasy.
“They have told us in interviews that it gives them a level of bravado they don’t usually have,” Tracey said.
yeah. of course. it’s those kids on ecstasy. not the raver ecstasy that makes kids kissy and huggy, but the ecstasy that makes criminals bold and violent.
that kind.
May 17, 2007
the difference between apartment living and house ownership
this is what it boils down to.
apartment living:
- building key
- deadbolt key
- knob key
- garage key
- mailbox key
- storage space key
house living:
- key
although, honestly, it’s freaking me out a little bit. i have my keys in my pocket, and it doesn’t feel like i have keys in my pocket. i keep patting my pocket, asking, “where are my keys?”
May 7, 2007
don't let anyone tell you sales is easy
there’s nothing better than being at your worldwide sales meeting and having to meet all of your colleagues and your international counterparts with a big shiner.
“are we seeing any competitors in our account? HELL YES.”
May 5, 2007
once again, home ownership fucks you up
we’re moved.
sort of. barely.
to make a long story short, there we were on thursday. we had been packing (semi-)furiously for two days, and it was 4:30 in the afternoon, just a half hour before the drop-dead date where we would have to call up the moving company and reschedule. we decide to do a walkthrough of what was left, and estimate how much time it would take us. we figure about five hours a piece, so we’d be done by 10pm, certainly by midnight.
four hours later, and we’re still both working on our first two-hour tasks.
fuck.
hmc goes to bed, and i stay up and keep plugging away. packing triage, doing what needs to be done first, like getting all the stuff off of the large pieces of furniture that need to go on the truck when the movers come at 9am, and then just packing more more more and more.
the movers come in the morning at 9:30 and start loading stuff in the truck. meanwhile we move to other parts of the apartment and keep packing. i haven’t slept yet. i’m strangely still coherent.
at about 1pm, the movers come in and say, “the truck’s almost full.”
“uh, what?” the truck can’t be almost full. you haven’t gotten everything from the apartment in the truck yet. and also, what about all of our crap in the garage? including the clothes washer and the VERY LARGE ULTRASUEDE COUCH?
i’m still awake. but perhaps not as coherent as i think i am.
we continue packing. they get most of the stuff in the garage in the truck, and only leave smaller things that we can take later, including two tables which we think (hope) we can disassemble later.
we set off to the house, and oh by the way did we mention that the overpass collapsed? yeah, thanks, that helps too.
they unload for what seems like hours. days.
i’m still awake but clearly stupid now.
they finally finish. our new house is now full of boxes.
that evening, we go back to get mika, who’s none too pleased by any of this nonsense. while loading up the jeep, i get confused and can’t figure out where hmc has gone to.
i’m still up, but not really there.
so, unable to figure out where hmc is, i think she’s gone back upstairs, so i turn around to go inside.
SMACK right into a stop sign.
i love owning a house. really. it’s been so good to me so far.
