Report from the Hinterlands

Pulling up stakes

2008-03-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hitting the road. Rambling on. Blowing this popstand. Getting out of dodge. Crossing the streams. Yep, moving this blog to greener pastures.

First Night

2007-12-19T09:52:00.001-08:00

DSC_1087.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Saturday we pushed hard, rented a Uhaul and got the first load of furniture to the new house. This was the initial trial Living Room setup, functional, yet lacking. But having 'our stuff' in the new house made this whole thing much more 'real.' It's hard to describe but both M and I have been noticing how much different we feel emotionally, semi-consciously, now that we have a house. More stable, more secure, more relaxed. It makes sense, but I'm surprised at the magnitude of the effect.

Wood floors pre-cleaned

2007-12-19T09:47:00.001-08:00

Wood floors pre-cleaned, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

After my folks rolled up the carpet and pad, they were left with this: hundreds of staples and brown-sticky-gunk from a carpet pad long past it's prime. My mom in particular, did a hero's job in cleaning up this mess.

Living Room without Carpets

2007-12-19T09:45:00.001-08:00

Living Room 2, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Under the brown-orange shag was wide-plank oak floors! We are so lucky.

Takagi T-K3

2007-12-19T09:41:00.001-08:00

DSC_1081.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

All installed and heating water!

Ex-Wall

2007-12-19T09:40:00.001-08:00

DSC_1078.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

From the Living Room looking into the kitchen: Here's the wall that we are slowly removing. The kitchen has no windows, as it's surrounded on all sides by other spaces, so in an effort to make it feel less dark and isolated we decided to take out the wall separating the kitchen and living room. We'll push the kitchen out into the living room by about 5 feet, and put in a peninsula with bar stools.

Kitchen facing the back: Post

2007-12-19T09:37:00.001-08:00

DSC_1088.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Here's a shot from almost the same location as the previous post, but 1 week later. There's now a fridge and stove in the kitchen, and the cabinets have been disassembled, sanded and primed, thanks to my Aunt & Uncle, and Mom & Dad. This is about what it looks like right now, except with less hand-carts and shop-vacs, and more food in the cupboards.

The other important thing about this image: It immortalizes the very first pot of tea being made in the house since we got the keys.

Kitchen facing the back of the house.

2007-12-19T09:33:00.001-08:00

Kitchen 1, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

This is 'pre' picture of the kitchen. The wallpaper in the alcove has been removed, but everything else is pretty much like it was when we moved it.

Zelia's Room

2007-12-19T09:31:00.001-08:00

DSC_1067.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

I know this color: Benjamin Moore Eco-Spec 'Grey Owl' because Meredith used it in her old studio in our rental. It's a nice subtle grey that is a good neutral to hang art on, or shoot photos against. Z & M have since painted pale blue polka-dots on the walls as well.

Sylvan's Room

2007-12-19T09:29:00.001-08:00

DSC_1066.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

I'm terrible with paint colors and have no sense of adventure so I'm really happy that M took on that task. Going by paint-chips alone, I never would've picked this because it looks so dark, but it on the walls it's lovely. Very classy and masculine. Meredith and Sylvan picked it out, I'll have to ask them what's it was called.

Our room

2007-12-19T09:24:00.001-08:00

Our Room2, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

This was the state of our room last week. Meredith choose the awesome color (it's bluer in Real Life), Mom and Dad primed and painted it. During the 'Work Week" it was tool storage.

Bowie in moving purgatory

2007-12-19T09:21:00.001-08:00

Cage Dog, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Pretty heartbreaking isn't it? Really she doesn't look this sad in her kennel most of the time. She does it for the camera. She's still a young pup, and has a tendency to be a little bit destructive when left unattended (she's got a thing for paper, and Z's stuffed animals), so during the move we would put her in the kennel for a couple of hours at a time. It for her own good. Really!

The first two weeks..phew.

2007-12-19T08:46:00.001-08:00

Once we got possession, our crack team of dedicated friends and family descended on the house and got straight down to work. Mom & Dad headed up the paint department, my Aunt and Uncle came down and helped with prep, repair, and woodworking, and my friend Michael Turner spent last week showing me how to re-wire without shocking myself or setting anything on fire. The first week, I worked at my day job and tried to help as I could after hours while Meredith and my Parents cleaned up and painted. The second week I took a 'vacation' to spend 12-14 hours a day working on the wiring, plumbing, demolition, and repairs.

List of accomplishments:

- New tankless hot water heater installed.
- All the bedrooms and hallway primed and painted
- All carpets, pads and tack strip removed
- Dangerous wiring removed in the kitchen wall
- Half the kitchen is now wired to code
- The wall between the kitchen and living room has been stripped of sheetrock and electrical stuff in preparation for removal.
- Washer and Dryer hookups have been created in the garage.
- New locks and deadbolts installed.
- Most of our belongings have been moved to the new house.

It was a tremendous couple of weeks, and at the end of it I came down with a cold, but we are 'functional'. We have hot water, refridgeration, a stove, and the ability to wash/dry our clothes. So now our focus moves to cleaning out our rental so we can get our deposit back and finish what we've started.

Notes on the tankless water heater: Originally we bought a Bosch tankless, but returned it and got a Takagi on the advice of our contactor friend Paul. Basically, he said that the Bosch units seemed to suffer from problems more often than the Takagis and all the plumbers he knows prefer the Takagi. It was also cheaper than the equivelant Bosch, so it was a really easy decision.

It was hard to install. I should note that every install will be different, but ours was a PITA. We had hoped to use our old hot water tank flu, but the tankless heater put out so much waste heat that you must use a special stainless flue from top to bottom (an additional $350). It also needs a special 'full-flow' gas pipe and care should be used in hooking up the water lines as the connections on the unit seem a little fragile. But once it was in, and we'd finished getting everything connected it worked like a champ. Now I can take a looong shower without ever running out of hot water! Or more accurately, all of us can take showers right after each other without running out of hot water, and as we only have one bathroom, that is exactly what is going to happen.

A tankless water heater is often referred to as an 'instant' water heater, which it is, but that doesn't mean that you'll have hot water instantly at the tap. With a whole-house tankless heater, you still have to run the water for a while before hot water comes out. That's simply because the water in the pipes between you and the heater will cool off after a while and you have to flush all of that out of the system before the hot water can make it to the faucet.

There are two major benefits for a tankless heater. First, you get unlimited hot water. Second, you save energy because you don't have to try and keep 40-50 gallons of water hot 24 hours a day. You are only heating the water as you need it.

How does it work in reality? For the most part, it works exactly as advertised. Hot showers are hot and you don't run out of hot water. The only problem we've had is running two high-demand uses at the same time, ie the washer on hot, and a shower. When we try to do two things at once, the water is still hot enough, but the mixing of hot and cold gets tricky. For example:
You're in the shower and you've got the temperature just how you like it. Then someone starts a hot-wash cycle. Suddenly the water is 10-15 degrees colder than it was. You turn up the hot, no problem, there's plenty of hot water to go around. But then the washer stops filling and suddenly, like instantly, you've got super-hot water in the shower. I can see why they put so many warnings about getting burned and scalded in the manual!

But other than that, it's works perfectly.

Hinterlands has once again found a purpose!

2007-12-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

As you might've guessed, this blog is going to be morphing itself into a house remodel/green products blog as we fix up our little old house. Yesterday was Day One, and Meredith and Sylvan got a lot done. Zelia helped out and I felt like I was walking around in circles bumping into stuff.

But in only 3 hours we filled up the carport with a pile of stuff to take to the dump. Hopefully today we'll get Todd's truck and get to make multiple dump runs.

Our goal for the first week is to get most of the interior painted, the carpets out, the attic insulation cleaned out in preparation for electrical work, and the yard and outbuildings cleaned out of junk and toxins.

He fronts the most.

2007-12-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

Our anniversary was in October, and for a present Meredith got us tickets to go see MC Frontalot at Cafe du Nord. It was the most fun show I've seen in a long time. If he ever plays a show in your area you should totally go see him.

BRAK! We got the keys!

2007-12-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

I've refrained from posting anything about the house since we heard our bid got accepted because I was afraid of jinxing something. My odd superstition didn't help, as the whole process got derailed for two weeks because of a family squabble on the sellers side.
Escrow was supposed to close the day before Thanksgiving, but we had all our ducks in a perfect little row and it was looking like we might be able to close the Friday before. We (Meredith, my Agent Carol, and my Broker Mark) all met at the Title company's office to sign the last of the papers. When we got there the Title agent told us that there was a hitch. There had been a lien (a Deed of Trust) on the title placed by the sellers son. We had known about it, but the word had been that he was ready to sign all the necessary papers without delay. That turned out to be wrong. On the day of the signing, he decided to hold out, and then stopped returning any phone calls.
This meant that we couldn't close, as the Title company wasn't willing to close with a 'clouded' title. Now the seller herself was reportedly upset by this, she wanted to sell as badly as we wanted to buy but it seemed like there was nothing that we could do. Thankgiving week, and the week after, different solutions were presented and nothing was working.
I hired an attorney, we started talking about how much time and money it would take to get possession of the house (not the happiest of holiday weekends).
In the end (after many many phone calls and much hand wringing) a bond company came in and 'bought' the debt, thus clearing the way for a smooth transfer.
Thank god.
The bond papers got signed on Friday (Z's birthday) and then our agent surprised us Saturday by bringing us the keys! WHOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

So we have a house. I can't believe it.

And we have a lot of work to do :)

Rush rush rush!

2007-11-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well 5pm Sunday rolled by and nothing happened. No phone call, no owls, no skywriting. We were at our Will & Heidi's house in Petaluma rolling up some D&D characters. After checking my phone every 5 minutes for 2 hours I realized I didn't have a signal. I rushed outside and called my agent, sure enough they had called her and liked our offer.

Except for one thing.

They wanted 17 days to close escrow, not 30.

Wooohooo!

Well, except for two things, they wanted to make sure I was a real offer. Like that I had all my financing in order. Which I didn't, totally.

So Monday morning I rushed around like a madman talking to my loan broker, calling my agent, Meredith and my parents keeping everyone in the loop. At the end of the day we were set. Now all we had to do was have the listing agent finish up their counter offer, we could sign it and send it back. Then we'd be in escrow and get the house the day before Thanksgiving (!!!!!)

Except one thing. In the interval between our verbal acceptance of the counter, and us getting a copy of the papers to sign (my cell phone died, they had fax problems, it rained frogs) another offer had come in on the house.

Oh shit.

Tuesday was a loooooong day. Wondering if we would get in a bidding war (in this market?!), or whether we could even match them. The idea of looking at more houses, waiting longer, watching mortgage rates creep up, didn't leave us very happy.

Then at 4pm, our agent called. They'd chosen us, no need to counter, the paperwork would be to us and signed and back to them that same day.

Whooohoooo!

More phone calls on my new phone (email me if you need the number, it's different than before) to keep everybody informed, and then we waited for my agent to come over and give us the papers.

Everything in order and back on its way to the listing agent. At 10:41pm we received confirmation that we were in. Escrow started this morning.

Whoohooo!

Then I spent most of the day at the 'new house' with the housing inspector and getting more paperwork photocopied and filed.

The bottom line is: Whooohooo! We're getting a house. We get the keys sometime near Thanksgiving, we're hoping for before but it could be after.

Photos at my flickr page.

Home sweet wait.

2007-11-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

We've made a bid!

Now we wait.

It's really hard to wait, after so much waiting and looking.

But we should know one way or another by Sunday night.

Tentative house warming (fingers crossed): Saturday 12/8

More when we know it.

Wait, then freak out, then wait, then freak out...

2007-11-01T20:21:00.001-07:00

Ah homebuying. We wait almost a month with nothing looking promising, and then bam the 'perfect house' shows up. Perfect in that we can afford it, and it has 3 bedrooms, and that it's not totally nasty inside.

The bonus is that it has a giant, humongous yard. With mature fruit trees. We will hopefully make an offer tomorrow.

I'll post details if our offer gets accepted.

Cross your fingers for me.

Quiet death of hobbies

2007-10-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

As those who know me best, it's time for my fall malaise. For those who don't here's a quick synopsis: Every fall for as long as I can remember I tend to get moody and introspective. When I was younger and more volatile it would present itself as depression and epic nostalgia. The irony is that Fall is my favorite season.
In the last 5 years or so the fall malaise has been more subdued, more introspection, then depression. And this year is continuing that trend. Perhaps it's growing older, perhaps I'm just busier and generally fulfilled. Whatever the reason, this year has already shown me a couple of things about myself I hadn't realized. So what is the result of this seasonal navel-gazing?

I don't like cars anymore*. Or motorcycles. I'm no longer keen on learning how to build everything. At some point, I stopped being a 'reader' (I blame college). Single-player gaming leaves me cold. I'm never going to learn all the skills of the ninja.

Basically many of the traits that used to define me (in my own head, anyway) don't fit anymore. It's an odd feeling. What do I do with all the tools and books and material I've accumulated over the years? Do I really get rid of that sweet '60s Cafe Racer gas tank that never found a frame? Can I slim down to one set of sockets? Should I?

But for me the bigger problem, is that I feel like I don't have 'an interest' anymore. Something to occupy my thoughts when I'm trying to fall asleep. I imagine that someday soon, that'll be the house we buy, but until then I feel kind of blank. Hm...

The best part of my trip

2007-09-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

View from Beverly Hilton, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Was waking up to this.

Unfortunately it only constituted about 2% of the otherwise tedious trip.

Good Morning @ 25,000 Feet

2007-09-16T20:42:00.001-07:00

DSC_0411.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

On my way to LA....

Slater Street: Front

2007-09-16T20:40:00.001-07:00

Slater Street: Front, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Fixer part 3, end.

2007-09-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Meredith and I have a new realtor, and we went back to the 'fixer' (now known as the Crest house) today with our friend Michael Turner. Michael has been in the trades 35 years and has done or seen most everything. He's specialty is electrical work, and that was a big question about the Crest house. Not so good news in the electrical department. Michael said it was too messed up, and badly wired to be safe. He'd only get involved in the project if we committed to completely rewiring the house, down to every last plug and switch. Eeep! To make a long story short: We are bailing on the Crest house. It needs too much, in too many areas, with too many variables for our time and money. Someday it'll be a beautiful large ranch house, but right now it's a bit of a quagmire for the money.

So we keep looking. Next up: The Slater House. A slight fixer, in a good neighborhood with a great yard.

Fixer part 2.

2007-09-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

Paul & I just went through the house. It's better and worse than I'd feared.
First, the listing isn't accurate. It says it's a 3 bedroom 2 bath, with second unit and den. No it's not. It's a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, no second unit, no den. Or it's a 2 bedroom with den. Or it's a 2 bedroom, with a possible 2nd unit, no den. It does have a garage, and it does have 2 fireplaces.

The good: Most walls, trim, and all teh windows are intact. The roof looks newish, the gutters look passable. The view from the upper garden terrace is very nice. The third bedroom is a surprisingly nice space. The squatters didn't do much visible damage, other than dirty carpets. There are several skylights, and lots of nice natural light in the house. Two fireplaces! It's got good bones, and a decent layout.

The bad: The front chimney is pulling away from the house, the kitchen needs to be gutted and redone, the bathrooms would need to be redone eventually (they'd need to be fixed in the short term). The windows are all single pane and original.

The surprising: Original wiring and plumbing. The bank is apparently firm on price (give 10k or so).

Paul's take (paraphrased): Take a remodel budget of 30k, you could do the floors, kitchen and a bathroom or two (while fixing the chimney), but doors, windows, other bathroom, electrical/plumbing, etc would all have to wait. Basically you could make it livable before you move in, and then gradually fix the rest over a couple of years. At the end you'd have nice, 600k+ house built the way you want it. Do the major stuff (floors, kitchen) clean the rest, and gradually update the wiring room by room. The chimney (which freaked me out) is 'not a big deal', he believes the front of the house has settled a bit and that tipped the chimney enough that it's load is now pulling on the front of the house, not straight down as it should. The fix? Strap the chimney and tie it back to the roof, then reline the flue. From what he could see, the foundation looked ok.

More photos here

The fixer.

2007-09-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

We are at the thin end of the market, and we are picky: Nothing to far from town, nothing built after 1960, no condos. That gives us (at the moment) 3-4 houses to look at. One of them is plenty big, with a large yard on a hillside with views of the city, but...it's in bad shape. It's a ranch house built in 1947, that was in good shape until about a year ago. The family tried to sell it, they moved out, the bank took possession and there it sat. At some point squatters moved in and made a mess. It isn't destroyed, but it's pretty trashed. Someone, it's unclear who, decided to put in walls all over the place splitting up the living room dining room, the appliances in the kitchen are gone, the carpet is in bad shape. But it's a lot of house for the money and could be a great space with a terraced yard. 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 fireplaces, single garage.

I spoke with my parents, who've dealt with destructive renters, about how much work it would be to rehab the interior. They seemed optimistic. Sure it would be work, but as a team we could get it livable fairly quickly, and end up with a great house and a relatively small mortgage.

So this morning I'm going through the house with Paul. He's a contractor (True North Construction) and has an incredible eye for remodeling houses and design. His own house is a thing of beauty, and a testiment to his vision and forethought. If he likes the idea, then I'll come back with a team of friends all of whom are craftsmen in their respective trades: Ben and Paul for the carpentry, Orion for the masonry work, Michael for the electrical, my Dad & Mom for paint and trim. We'll see.

The search goes on....

2007-09-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

We went and looked critically at 'the little house' yesterday with our Realtor (yay Clark Rosen!) and my parents, and our ardor has cooled a bit. It's still the sweet little house, but it is really very tiny, and super-high priced for what it is. There's no denying that is in fact a two bedroom, with little to no storage space, and the yard is smaller than I remembered. That said, there's not much else out there in our price range, and it does have a great 'feel' to it.

We decided to wait on making an offer, and see what else shows up, or comes down into our price range in the short term, to think about how much we are willing to 'simplify' and how much we just want to buy a house.

I'll post the set of photos I took on my flickr page under 'Little house"

Home sweet freakout.

2007-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

The home buying saga continues...

We gave up on the idea of buying a house a while ago due to the state of our finances vs. the state of the market. My how times have changed. Months of working on my credit score has garnered modest gains, and the market has suddenly cooled off, the combined effect means we are just barely able to get in.

We've found a house and now we are starting the bewildering, stress-filled process of loan applications, meeting with realtors, lawyers, planners, and others who are gently guiding us along. I want to give a huge public thanks to my parents for their support, and their experienced advice. They have been a tremendous resource, and having them an intimate part of the process has kept me from freaking out too badly. Thanks.

I'll stay mum about the house for now, except to say it's tiny, cute, and a better fit than our current place. We will have to jettison/liquidate a massive percentage of our stuff, but we are super-excited about that as well. We've gotten to the point where we have too much stuff and it's become draining to even think about, so forcing a downsize will go a long to way to clarifying and focusing how we want to live.

Our goal (fingers crossed) is to be in a new place before the end of the year. I hope all 3 of you reading this will come to our housewarming/christmas party. :)

Beware the watcher in the HOV-lane

2007-09-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

DSC_0214.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

This is the geekiest plate I've seen. Waaay geekier than 'G33K' or TCPIP. I'm proud to note that both Meredith and I spotted it and instantly knew it for what it was: Brilliant.

Now I'm just jealous I didn't think of it first.

It could be worse

2007-09-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

DSC_0209.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

But at least I had a view that didn't face into the hotel. Most of the room had windows that opened onto corridors. This is what a lot of the rooms got to see.

What a view!

2007-09-06T09:49:00.001-07:00

DSC_0208-Edit.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

I have to go to LA for business several times a year, and sometimes I get put up in a hotel. Note to self: Descriptions of a 'lovely seaside location' can be exaggerated. Here's the view from my room.

Kiya

2007-09-06T09:46:00.001-07:00

Kiya, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

She has a ball. Perhaps I'd like to throw it?

more dogs

2007-09-06T09:45:00.003-07:00

DSC_0171.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Dogs.

2007-09-06T09:45:00.001-07:00

DSC_0160.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Heidi!

2007-09-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

DSC_0150.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

I love photographing Heidi.

Birthday lunch, incomplete

2007-09-06T09:31:00.001-07:00

DSC_0055.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

For my dad's birthday, my brother, M and I made him lunch. Steak, and "potatoes" (potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets). Very tasty.

We have a boat!

2007-09-06T09:19:00.001-07:00

We have a boat!, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Ok, it's catchup time. This is from much earlier in the summer, but for a short afternoon, we had a boat. I'm rowing, and Z is clearly a pirate (note the forearm tatoo).

Doggie breakthrough!

2007-07-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Bowie is a gentle little dog, who is scared of cars and traffic. So dog walks were limited to our little dead-end street. We were trying to figure out how to get her to get beyond her fears either with lots of treats, or from lots of little trips towards the busy end of the street, one step at a time if need be. Hopefully culminating in Bowie enjoying walks to the park, downtown, and on trails.

Now Bowie *loves* people and other dogs, and Sunday, our friend Jacquie and her dog Mixx were the catalysts to a doggie breakthrough. Meredith met up with them and used the lure of doggy-comraderie to get Bowie out onto Sebastopol Road and down the railroad tracks with no problems!

If you like This American Life..

2007-07-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

TAL featured one of their stories this last week, so I googled them up and started listening to episodes. It's very good, with a greater focus on science and psychology than TAL does. I highly recommend checking it out. You can listen from their website, or subscribe to their podcast, or download mp3s.

Bowie: toys

2007-07-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Day 3: She's really perking up now, she romping around the yard and chasing flies with abandon. Or quietly hanging out under the patio table while we garden. Today we had several firsts: first introduction of new people on a walk, first toy-action, and first sit behavior. She's very good with strangers, and kids. And as soon as I finally convinced her to mouth one of her toys, she dragged it off under the bed (her den for now) and came out and started chewing on the rawhide bone! Very exciting, as she kept trying to use shoes for chewing (but never succeeding). Her ears are perked most of the time, and her submissive behavior is gradually diminishing. Huge improvements in just 3 days!

What a day....

2007-06-29T20:51:00.001-07:00

Bowie & her crate, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Today is our first day as a dog-having family. Fargo would come visit for a while but he was always 'my' dog or 'Laurel's' dog. I had resisted getting another dog for months for specious reasons. I didn't want to replace Fargo, and I didn't think our landlady would go for it. Once I sat down and really thought about my reasons for stonewalling Zelia's many, varied, impassioned pleas for a dog, I realized I was wrong. So I started perusing various dog agencies, and got the approval from our landlady. Yesterday I stopped by the Sonoma County Animal Shelter on my way home and the pretty dog in the photo caught my eye. She was really perky, engaging and funny in the cage, but her larger brother kept hogging all the limelight. But I only had eyes for . Once I got a chance to visit with her, it was clear that she was very very submissive, but people oriented and sweet. So I brought Meredith to meet her, and we slept on the idea.

Today, it still seemed right, we knew we would have some challenges. She's a border collie mix and has had a seemingly tough life so far, but the bones are there for a great dog.

I'll write more about her first day home (it's been filled with little triumphs, and interesting observations) but I'm recovering from teh flu, and it's been a BIG day. So I'll leave with this for now:

Her name is no longer Coco (she wasn't very attached to it) and it is now Bowie. She went from being scared of her crate to settling down in it with almost no coaxing from me in about 4 hours. She's very gentle and sweet. Zelia, who had been spending the day at a friends house broke out in tears when she saw Bowie. And later ran down the street yelling "Attention everyone! Today I got a dog!!!!"

earworm #2 of the week

2007-06-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

Hey Bulldog

Brilliant.

Rancilio Silvia

2007-06-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

Rancilio Silvia: I've been borrowing my neighbors Silvia for the last month. It's a great home espresso machine. If you are serious about espresso, but can't or won't spend a grand on a machine, get a Silvia. It's very sensitive to grind and water temperature, but once you get yours figured out, it's easy to get great tasting espresso and well frothed milk. I've completely stopped going to Flying Goat since I set this up.

It's also hackable. For the geeks, it's the espresso machine equivelent of a WRT-54GL router. Put a PID temp controller and a open portafilter on it, and you can get better espresso than you'd get from almost any cafe.

Downsides: The length of time between when you pull a shot, and when it's ready to froth is too long, and the espresso cools off if placed in an unwarmed cup. Also, it'll make you wish you had a good grinder, and you'll start thinking about roasting your own beans to have total control over your coffee.

Current Earworm:

2007-06-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Jonathon Coulton, RE: Your Brains.

Perhaps the best, catchiest song about zombies ever written.

Old enough to rediscover..

2007-06-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

I used to be a huge beatles fan. Acutally, I've always been a huge beatles fan, but I haven't listened to them since maybe 6 or 7th grade. But from about 4th grade until early 7th grade I didn't want to listen to anything else. Most of my classmates were much the same, to the extent that one of our plays was a mashup of The Wizard of Oz and The Yellow Submarine. We called it "The Ballad of Dorothy and Ringo" and I played Ringo in one of my only starring roles as a school-play thespian. I wonder why the Beatles were so big in our class. It was a 100% Trend.

But I digress.

The point is, I burnt out on Beatles really early, the songs had lost their power and my ears couldn't 'hear' them anymore. So, I have not let myself listen to them since for fear of turning burn-out into loathing.

But a couple of weeks ago, while going through my records I threw on disc 1 side 2 of the White album. Wow. These guys were brilliant! I wanted to hear more, but unfortunately the other albums, and tapes I had haven't survived with me all these years.

So off to the local music store to see what remastered CDs I can find....

Wikipediahole

2007-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Who knew that Manimal was only on for 8 episodes?

She's got a 20-sided die, I've got a +5 mallet of geek

2007-05-29T10:59:00.001-07:00

Meredith has been sick with pneumonia, and after weeks of 'taking it easy' she was bored out of her mind with sitting in bed. So I convinced her to try a little bit of World of Warcraft. Meredith is not a computer gamer (The Sims and wii, notwithstanding), but I figured it would help pass the time.

Warcraft is powerful magic for making time pass.

After climbing the initial learning curve, she took to it quite strongly. Almost too strongly. I fear we'll be having this conversation soon.

Shoreline

2007-05-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

Shoreline, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

From the deck of the Aquarium.

Moon Jellyfish

2007-05-24T11:28:00.001-07:00

Moon Jellyfish, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Sun Fish

2007-05-24T11:17:00.001-07:00

Sun Fish, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

These things are really weird. Their eyes look like giant human eyes.

Snoozy otter

2007-05-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

Otter, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Pig Pile of sleeping otters.

2007-05-24T11:15:00.003-07:00

Otters, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Jellyfish U-turn

2007-05-24T11:15:00.001-07:00

MontereyAq-9890.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Jelly fish

2007-05-24T11:14:00.003-07:00

MontereyAq-9896.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Sylvan on the lookout

2007-05-24T11:14:00.001-07:00

MontereyAq-9899.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Maybe he's looking for pirates? Maybe he's looking for second lunch.

Aquarium!

2007-05-24T11:11:00.001-07:00

MontereyAq-9915.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

We went on the school camping trip, but only just barely. M has a bad cough (bronchitis or something) and as feeling pretty lousy, so drove to Sunset Beach, just south of Santa Cruz, and set up camp. Then Meredith and I drove to a nearby hotel and got a room. The kids got to camp with their friends and she got a nice warm, dry place to sleep. The following day we packed up and went to the Monterey Aquarium and saw lots and lots of really cool stuff. Otters of varying types, jelly fish by the hundreds, and of course, fish. Photos to follow...

Vroom...

2007-05-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

Brief note: Today was I took the kids on the back of the motorcycle for the first time. Just a little ride, up and down the street. They both loved it. :)

Two notes: Zelia fits Meredith's gear pretty well. Sylvan it too big for it. Kids grow fast. Especially ones that eat as much as they do.

That reminds me. Last night while we were cooking dinner, Sylvan decided that ten minutes was too long to wait. So he made a PB&J sandwich. Five minutes after that, he was hungry again so he made another. Then he sat down to dinner and ate more than anyone else (after Zelia). I need to start buying primate chow in 150lb bags and just shoveling it into his computer room.

Portents

2007-05-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

We are going camping! School fieldtrip, camping and aquariums! Pictures to follow.

30 Day Photo #4

2007-03-05T10:56:00.001-08:00

Brooke.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

On the way home from work I stopped by Brooke & Jared's house to say hi, and witness the charred remains of their garage.

30 Day Photo #3

2007-03-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

Shoei_Bug_Death-2.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Ok, I kinda cheated, I didn't get any photos on Saturday that I liked. So I'm putting two up from Sunday.

Even though I had to work on Sunday, I took the long way in via VFR. It is always so lovely to ride a motorcycle through west county in early spring. However, it's not so good for bugs.

30DayPhoto #2

2007-03-01T10:39:00.001-08:00

30DayPhoto_1, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

First in an overly long series of photos from my office.

cherry blossoms - 30day photo thingee

2007-02-28T22:27:00.000-08:00

cherry blossoms
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Meredith decided to start a 30 day photo challenge, and I'm jumping on that bandwagon. My additional challenge is that I'm so busy at work that at least 10 photos are going to be within throwing distance of my desk.

First up: Cherry blossoms. How can you go wrong taking pictures of cherry blossoms? I just want to stare at them for hours. Spring is on it's way.

Update: we now have a flickr group, in case you'd like to join in. It can be found here.

2007-02-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

This makes me laugh every time I read it.

Project: Mother Earth Reprint, from Jamie..

2007-02-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

This is a request from my friend Jamie. I've removed her adresses, but let me know in the comments if you'd like to help and I'll give you her information.
-S
-------

February 25, 2007

Dear Friends,
As many of you know I have been working on historical political
project where I am reprinting and distributing Mother Earth. You
may ask what is Mother Earth? (and no its not the
journal/magazine you can find in supermarkets today)
Mother Earth was a political journal that advocated radical political
causes, labor agitation, and opposition to the U.S. government on a
variety of issues. Its subscribers and supporters formed a virtual
'who's who' of the radical left in America in the years prior to
1920.
The first issue of Mother Earth, with a print run of 3000 copies,
hit newsstands in March 1906. For a dime, readers got a showcase of
anarchist and radical writings on current events, as well as poetry
and fiction. Editor Emma Goldman kept the monthly in circulation
until August 1917, despite conflicts with the U.S. Postal Service
and law enforcement authorities who found its content "treasonable."
Goldman's circle of friends and associates -- especially Alexander
Berkman, a professional typesetter -- helped shape each issue at meetings
in Goldman's apartment. "My room was the living-room, dining room, and
Mother Earth office, all in one," she said.
By 1918, in a repressive wartime environment, federal authorities had
seized lists naming over 8,000 subscribers to Mother Earth, targeting them
for investigation.

I am writing to ask you to help support this project.
It is inspiring to read writing by; Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman,
Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Peter Kropotkin, Voltairine de Cleyre and more.
With the current oppressive political climate it is easy to draw
comparisons and feel the passion that sparked the writings found in Mother
Earth. No person interested in history or currently involved in radical
politics should go with out getting their hands on these writings. We all
should invest in keeping anarchist history alive. There are currently no
one else working on creating reprints of Mother Earth in its original
form.

Please give what you can. All donations can be tax deductible.

You can pay on line via pay at
XXXXXX (leave a message in the comments)

or snail mail at
Mother Earth
c/o J. Gooley
XXXXXXXXX
Berkley CA, 94703.

With every donation over $20 dollars you will receive all four new reprints.
With every donation of $25 dollars you will receive all five reprints.
With every donation of $100 dollars or more you will receive all five
reprints and a surprise thank you gift!

So where will your kind donations be going?
The story and the logistics:
I was able to find a purchase 22 of the original copies ranging from
the years 1909 – 1916. At a cost of
$20 - $250 it cost well over $2,000 dollars to acquire the original copies
(the magazine originally cost a mere 10 cents).
It is shameful and unacceptable that in order to retrieve and read
irreplaceable radical history it would cost this much. I decided
right then and there that I would copy and distribute this magazine
so that no one would pay more than 3 dollars again. I found an
amazing radical printer who was/is just excited about this project as
I. We did our first print run in 2005 with a 500 copies of an issues
from 1914. Distributors both large and small have gotten excited to
carry mother earth including AK press -
http://www.akpress.org/2005/items/motherearthvol9.
I have sent off to the printer four more original Mother
Earth’s to have printed in time for the 12th annual anarchist
book fair March 17th and 18th , 2007.
So this March there will be a total of five reprints available in the
original form, done with a letter press, by a leading independent
radical printer in Tucson AZ.
This current print run will be a count of 250 for each of the four
issues that I have sent to print. I decided to scale back the print
run to get more issues out there even though ordering less than 500
increases the cost per unit. The total cost with out shipping for
the reprinting of the next 4 issues is $1,500.00.

Total project costs are:
* Current Reprint Order (4 issues at 250 copies of each) = $1,500.00
* Reprint 250 copies of the remaining 17 originals = $6,375.00
* Shipping related cost ($50 - $ 100) from Tucson and out to
distros/individuals = $ 1,700.00

Total Estimates cost to complete project: $9,575

Thank You for You time energy, and making this project possible.

- Jamie Gooley

New Favorites: Meredith in Mammoth

2007-02-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

Meredith @ Panorama Dome
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

I love this photo, though it appears strangely washed out in Flickr. Maybe it's just my monitor.

This was taken in Mammoth Lakes, up on top of the Panorama Dome. The wind was howling and clouds were starting to rush down the face of the Sherwins. We could barely stand up to the wind, but it was such as rush to be out there in those conditions. We were giggling and hooting all the way back down into town.

Sunset Line & Twine

2007-02-28T09:38:00.000-08:00

DSC_9254.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

As some of you may have heard, the Sunset Line & Twine building in Petaluma is scheduled to be converted into condos. It's bittersweet news to anyone who's grown up in Petaluma in the past...oh 100 years as Sunset L&T is the coolest, creepiest, factory in town.

As long as I can remember it's always looked abandoned and decrepit, but until last spring it was still producing a variety of lines and twines as it had done for since the end of the 19th century. Some history changing cordage has come out of that brick pile: Parachute cord for the Apollo missions as one example. But it's manufacturing days are over. Housing is it's future.

My knee jerk reaction is to decry the condo conversion, but I will be thankful that they are going to be saving the structure and not wiping the site clean. Luckily, (thanks to my dad) I was able to go on a 'last tour' of the building and thereby fulfill a childhood dream of seeing the inside of the place.

Photos here.

Susannah Bettag @ Frey Norris

2007-02-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

DSC_9297.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Also old news, but still relevant: I went down to SF a few weeks ago for the opening of Susannah Bettag's show 'Vanitas Baby' at Frey Norris. Susannah has studio space with Laurel/Andy/Gage etc... at Compound21 and her work is absolutely beautiful. I can't give it the art-critic breakdown like Trane could, but I loved her work. If you are in SF before 3/14 you should definitely check it out.

I also took the opportunity to meet up with Lauren Smith, an old school friend, while I was down there. It was great to see her, and meet her husband Derek. They've come back out to SF after years in NYC, and have been working on several interesting projects under their "Curiosity Guild" moniker: blog, shop, and the original guild website (out of date, but you get the idea). After the show a gaggle of us all went out to dinner. It was a nice way to spend the evening.

Photo show!

2007-02-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is now over, but it's worth mentioning: I had a show of my photos @ the Freemind Infospace in Santa Rosa this month. The opening had a decent turnout for something I threw together at the last moment. I really want to thank everyone who out on a rainy saturday evening to see my little showcame (especially all you people from SF!).

For those who couldn't make it, I've put together a partial grouping on my flickr page.

It was an important step for me, as it's something I've been wanting to do for over a year. I just never got it all together until now. It was interesting to hear, albeit second-hand, some of the comments from the few who turned up. It appears that some people didn't really 'connect' with the photos because they were so still and quiet. There wasn't the emotional hook to pull them in. I was worried about that..well, worried is too strong, I was...aware that people might find the photos too vacant/remote given the photos I chose to show, but I wanted to see how it worked. It was an experiment.

I saw this show as a good first trial. It was a small commitment, only 10 pieces in all, in a place run by my friends, not too far from home, so it a good place to work out all the bugs of actually preparing for and having a show.

Now I need to set up the next one. (Paging Heebee Jeebee's...paging Heebee Jeebee's)

OneGoodPhoto: Tuesday

2006-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sunrise@OAK
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Sunrise at Oakland International Airport. I was on my way to Santa Monica for work.

OneGoodPhoto: Sunday

2006-12-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

photo sharing">
Cyclecide@WinterFest
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

This was taken Sunday night at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition auction/event @ SOMArts. Cyclecide puts on punk-rock bicycle rodeo-things that are best observed in the hot summer sun with cheap beer.

2 new obligations

2006-12-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

1. One good photo a day. Either taken or processed and posted
2. One good post a week, preferably about my neighborhood.

I won't call these resolutions, because a) it's too early b) I don't want to doom them to failure.

Fives

2006-11-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

In a blatant rip-off of Merlin Mann's excellent website 5ives, I give you: Five things I thought were super cool as a kid, but not so sure about now:

1. Calculator Watches
2. Andy from WKRP
3. Walking with a limp
4. Post-apocalyptic Survival
5. Staying up all night

And 5 things I thought were super cool as a kid, which are still super cool:

1. Ben Saari
2. Wheelies
3. Neuromancer
4. Jonny Fever from WKRP
5. Breakdancing

Whoohoo! Halloween, and my friend's internet fame.

2006-10-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've lots of photos coming up, but since Halloween is 7 hours away, I thought I'd post this: My good friend from up the street made this costume for her daughter, and now it's on Make: Blog

I've seen it in person, and it is brilliant.

Dusting of the old email address...

2006-08-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Whoa. I just peeked in at an old email address, and I see some of you are still trying to contact me at my old, old, old address. I'm not at yahoo anymore, I'm at gmail. So please update your contact info for me. Trane, I'm looking significantly in your direction.

As a reminder my email is: (what I say to my dog when he's running around the house) AT gmail.com, or AT sonic.net.

That is all.

Birthday party!

2006-08-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

To my friends-
I'm throwing a bbq/birthday party for Sylvan and myself on Sat 8/26. Please bring some meat/vegan whatever and make it better with fire.

Ditty

2006-08-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Living la vida headphones at work 5 days a week my music has become boring. But luckily I've found indiefeed.com, a independant music podcast with new mp3s every couple of days. I downloaded them all, and have some new favorites. Your tastes may vary, but go check out some of these:

The Wrens: Everyone Chooses Sides (I cannot get this song out of my head...I'm singing it right now *while* i'm listening to another song, it's freaking musical super-glue)

31 Knots: Chain Reaction
Saturday Looks Good To Me: Meet Me by the Water
Koputador: Phenomenon

I'm sure more will pop out...

Trimming the fat..

2006-07-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, I've reduced my cell plan to the barest minimum. I plan to use it only when really necessary, so if you are used to calling me on it, please start using my home number or (in a pinch) my work number. Thanks!

Kids these days...

2006-07-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Zelia now has her own blog.

It also has the best blog name possible.

House Hunt: Enter the Money Men

2006-07-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my meeting with a mortgage broker, and the news was mixed (which is exactly what I expected). Basically, with my assets, and credit score, I was only eligable for a $270,00 loan (which won't buy much in this area), but with a little work I could make myself into a much more attractive Lendee for the banks. He outlined 4 steps which would put me in a good position a year from now.
1. Pay off your back taxes
2. Clean up the student loan listings on my credit report
3. either pay down my (small) credit card or get a bigger limit, in order to reduce my balance to under 50% of the limit.
4. Get another, larger credit card.

Yes, I know this stuff is obvious, but talking to a professional who could also prioritize what steps to take made all the difference in the world.

The other good information I picked up was the 'ballpark' figures I would dealing with on a loan for $480,000 (which is right about what we are looking at for a quasi-decent 3 bedroom in Santa Rosa). One thing that has had me flummoxed was the online mortgage calculators that talk about $3300 monthy payments on a loan about that size. I simply can't afford that kind of money. But, he pointed out, you can write off a large portion of those payments (which I knew), and what you should do is talk to a tax accountant and have them revise your W4 to take that into account. Then end result is that instead of getting a fat check from the IRS at the end of the year, you break even, but your take home pay is much bigger throughout the year.

He said that a $3300 mortgage payment (once the W4 has been adjusted) is akin to a $2300 rent payment (note, my figures are even more ballpark than his, because I don't have my notes in front of me, but you get the idea). Now I *could* afford a $2300 rent payment so it does look like it will be possible, at some point, to buy a house. Phew! Waiting may be good as house prices are likely to come down a little more over the next few months. I just hope I will be in a good position to buy before prices and interest rates rise again.

Now comes the hard work: Saving (you've got to squeeze every penny!), paying off debt, and being patient.

PS. Given that it will be awhile before we're ready, I suppose I can divulge which house we are currently in love with as it will be sold long before we are ready to buy. I think it's a great, great buy. It's certainly the nicest thing we've seen anywhere near the price. The bad news? It'll need a new roof within the next 5-10 years.

This weeks House we'd buy if we could

Sources:

Clark Rosen, Realtor: http://www.clarkrosen.com/

Brent Blaustein, Mortgage Broker: http://loans.princetoncap.com/brentblaustein/

Powered by Qumana

Whoohoo! It's Friday night!

2006-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

And we just made up two..that's right TWO! new tongue twisters.

Ok ready? ok.

Try to say "Theme Song" more than twice in a row correctly.

Alternately do the same thing with "People Blaster"

The People Blaster one is from Zelia.

Home hunt part...um something..2? yeah. part 2.

2006-07-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Meredith and I have become the archetypical house hunter characters that you often meet at parties. You know the type, the ones who are always prattling on about house prices, neighborhoods, and completely facinated by anyone else's house buying stories.

And the transformation happened so quickly. Just two Sunday afternoons driving around looking for open houses. Sigh.

Yesterday we rose to the next level. I spoke to a realtor. Clark Rosen. He's my friend's dad, and in one conversation I knew he was the guy I'd like to work with. Not even to mention the past history we share, and the general 'good, honest, stand up guy' qualities I know he has in spades, but his friendly, knowledgable, cheerful demenor. I never felt like he was applying to be my realtor (which was a first from all the other realtors I've met over the past two Sundays).

Today we actually made an appointment to see a house. Luckily it was not *the one*. It was one of the first three bedrooms in our price range that wasn't a condo. On the other hand it was a bit too much of a fixer upper. It had all the classic styling faux pas. Astroturf on the front steps, wood paneling, and that lovely 70's two-layer shag carpet. The yard was red lava rock in the front, and dead and sunbaked in the back. It had originally been a 1920's cute bungalow with a full width porch, but the late 60's remodel had undone most of the great details you normally find in such a place. In order to update it to something I'd like to come home to would require a complete, stem-to-stern interior remodeling.

And all that for only $500,000. Ah Bay Area real estate.

Now the realtor who was showing us the 'diamond in the rough' knew of another house being sold by it's owner nearby that was the same price but was 'ready to go' in his words. And, almost unbelievably, he was exactly right. It was perfect. 3 bedrooms, hard wood floors (freshly refinished!), new paint all around (good colors), nice, if unedible landscaping, fire place, great kitchen with a classic wedgewood stove, garage with painted/sealed concrete floors, the list goes on and on. Meredith was practically beside herself with house-desire. If we had been in a position to make an offer she would've signed any paper necessary. It would've been a done deal.

Double-sigh.

By the time we get our collective financial house in order, I'm willing to bet that this particular gem will be gone. Anybody who's looking in that price range will immediately see what a good buy this place is. Which, in true house-buying-twit fasion, is why I won't tell anybody where it is.

Just in case.

Homes and Gardens?

2006-07-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

I want to buy a house. It's been a vague want for a loooong time. Like finishing college, and getting a 'real' job. Now that those two things are checked off, house buying is presumably next. Note, this comes from a different list than my other vague wants, such as driving a rocket-car, the ability to sing opera and breakdance (albeit not necessarily at the same time).

The thing of it is, that I know very little about buying a house, other than there's a lot to know.

Many of my friends now own houses (even Chairmen Ben!) and their advice is all over the map, from "if I'd known how easy it was, I would've bought much sooner" to "it's the most nerve-wracking thing ever."

Now there are some hurdles to get over, not limited to house prices in the North Bay, to my credit not being as stellar as I could hope. But I think it's possible, and with the market cooling down a bit, probably a good time to start looking.

Of course the problem with looking is finding something that you love before you are in a position to buy. Like this one. But that's bound to happen.

Ideally we'd like to find a house in our current neighborhood (cheap and cheerful!) with a decent sized lot. But frankly almost anything with a decent roof and a good foundation and garden potential will have our interest.

I keep dreaming of landscaping and a garage with a concrete floor (something I've not had the pleasure of since I was 18). The house in the above link, already has us envisioning how we'd remodel it, and what we'd do with the yard. But that's putting the cart before the horse.

In reality I'd like to buy into something in the next two years. That would give me some time to clean up my credit, get together some semblence of a down payment and school myself on all the ins and outs of real estate.

Stay tuned!

Errata...Encryption and email.

2006-07-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

Email, as you may know, is a completely insecure form of communication. It has been likened to a postcard, in that anybody who wants to read it can without almost any effort. The analogy is good, but it would be more accurate to say it's a postcard that is delivered not by the postal service but by randomly handing it to a guy on the street and asking them to pass it to the next person they see heading east (and on and on it goes from one random person to the next until it arrives at it's intended destination).

And as my life is increasingly involved on-line (calendars, to-do lists, reference materials, shopping, etc) I've started doing some serious thinking about how vulnerable much of that data is. Granted, with most things I have little control over 'my' data held in banking computers, or goverment laptops (SSU comprimised thousands of it's students SSNs last year), I do have some control over some things. My email is one of them, and it's probably the least secure method of communication I have. Encryption is a toddle, and on a philisophical level I feel it's critical that everyone becomes aware of the issue, and starts using encryption.

It's not that I feel that my forwarded funny cat videos from youtube are critical to keep secret, and I'm smarter than to put anything important like SSNs or credit card numbers in an email, but with my email unsecure, there is no way to be sure that email you recieve from is actually from me. It doesn't take much to 'spoof' someones email account, and then the cracker is able to siphon all my emails without my knowledge. So the easy thing to do is encrypt my mail (and thus move away from gmail).

Encrypting email is really quite easy (especially after you set it up). I use a combination of free tools on my mac that integrates nicely into Apple's default Mail app. It's the open-source variant of PGP, called GnuPG. It's a very good, respected, encryption scheme that relies on "public-key cryptography."

Here's how it works: I make two different keys, one public, and one private. I put the public one where anyone can get it, and keep the private one...well..private. Then if you want to send me a message you use my public key and encrypt the message. When I get it, I can decrypt it with my private key.

Think of it like your voicemail: your phone number is your public key. I can leave you a message using your phone number (public key). When you call in to your voicemail system, you enter a number that allows you to hear your messages (the private key). I can't hear your messages, but anyone can leave one.

Got it? If not, let me know or google PGP, or public-key encryption. There's volumes on the 'net about it.

These encryption tools also allow you to encrypt files on your hard-drive (or your whole hard-drive!) and 'watermark' any message so that anyone who receives your message can verify it really came from you.

So, any message you recieve from me should start containing something that looks like:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

The message would be in here.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.4 (Darwin)

iD8DBQFEuInWLqp9mdnoHyYRAujJAJ9ETIx1a5qTEZ8VdaZNEW/TMq0gcwCeOfhb
ZWyMlkRIQot6SatadhD3Zfes=
=Mrjy
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

If you install GnuPG (or PGP), and download my public key, it will instantly verify if that message really came from me, and then if you reply you can use the same key to encrypt it to me.

Really this stuff is easier to setup than a home network, and it's a basic precaution all of us who use email should take.

As an aside: All the 'data losses' that keep showing up in the news (laptops with 65,000 SSNs, or credit card numbers, etc.) wouldn't be nearly so catastrophic if these people used some decent form of encryption. Frankly I'm surprised no one has sued these various companies/agencies into mandating encryption.

*There is some version of GnuPG/PGP for every OS and almost every mail client out there. If you want some help setting one up, let me know I'd be happy to help.

Townie

2006-07-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

On the two block walk to my favorite work coffee shop I was thinking over the layers of personal history that surround me in this town. For example, I buy my coffee from a guy I've been buying coffee from for almost half my life. The business he works at is run by friends of my parents. The woman behind the counter is the sister of a long time friend of mine. The building the shop resides in used to house a printing company that my friend's dad worked at.

And that's only the coffee shop. Along the walk I pass by a large building that used to be a lumber yard (and it's many fond memories of Saturday morning visits with my dad). Now it houses a bike builder I've known for years, a kayak shop with a pair of blue heelers that I've played with on several occasions, and a textile company that several friends have worked at over the years.

I walk by the spot I spent countless hours studying while in college, the space that until recently was my regular cafe, which was run by a friend from high school and staffed by my doppelganger.

And this all takes place in a neighborhood I spent many hours in as a teenager taking pictures of decrepit warehouses.

During my early to mid twenties I felt stifled by all those associations, but I've settled in, begun to enjoy them. They are what connect me to the world, they add depth to my landscape. I think that's why I don't enjoy traveling as much as I feel I should. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing new things, and visiting new places, but without any connections, I grow bored really fast.

I am a townie.

Ironically, I don't even live here anymore.

Subaru Update

2006-07-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

20,000 in 8 months. In that time I've commuted to Oakland, driving over the sierra (2 or 3 times), through flooded areas in Sonoma County during our wet wet spring, almost the entire length of California (from Trinidad to Mammoth lakes, admittedly not in the same trip) and daily errands in stop and go traffic. So far my mileage has stayed at 22 mpg almost without change that entire time (one dip to 19, and several tanks at 24 or so).

High Points of ownership: The car has got to be the absolute best vehicle I've driving in nasty weather. Torrential rain on the freeway? No drama. Snowy icy roads? Surefooted and predictable. It's comfortable and bland (e.g. no tickets! unlike my BMW 2002 which was a cop magnet). As a wagon it can hold an impressive amount of stuff. It's handling is better than any other car I test drove (except for the Prelude). The cappuchino cup holder in dash.

Low Points: Brake rotors have gotten horribly 'warped.' Rear windows only roll down halfway. The interior fake-wood dashboard is still ugly. One of the oxygen sensors has crapped out. The rear license plate *still* rattles. The windows are 'frameless' and have gotten noticblely loose in the door when they are rolled down. Wind noise on the freeway is suprisingly loud. I've read that it's fixable by doing something with the window guides, but I haven't taken that on yet. It can be hard to find in the parking lot. There are so damn many of them.

Hello?

2006-06-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hellooo? Phew! It's dusty in here. Jeeze. Well I need to do some sprucing up around here, but I've been very busy out there in the meatspace. Nothing too exciting, just the post-modern standard of work, home, projects....

Just to get you oriented, I no longer have a boat, but I still work for the same company, and live in Santa Rosa, um..yeah.

Upcoming posts? Several art shows of good stuff. Another pill-party at Laurel & Andy's for their upcoming show in....SF?

Corporate ropes course day, Laguna Beach, GTD, bikes, motorcycles, Linux, pvrs and fuzzy fuzzy cats.

Stay tuned!

Colbert Has Stones

2006-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

There's been some internet-meme buzz around Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Press Corps Dinner. I watched some of it last night and I got to say..meh. And I think I'm more disturbed that this was considered pointed criticism. Maybe he got more blatant as he went on (I got bored so I didn't finish it), but seriously if his speech is the high bar for questioning power in this country we are in big trouble. Maybe I was in the wrong headspace for Colbert's speech. I had just recieved a raft of photos from New Orleans from some co-workers who are there on vacation. The city is still devastated. Miles and miles of devastation, boats (big ones) still lying in the middle of streets, garbage, and falling down houses, and broken infrastructure everywhere. And it's been what, 9 months? And hurricane season starts in a few weeks? Man.

I know there's been a lot of gnashing of teeth over who has responsibility over NOLA, and that the Feds can't solve all the problems, etc etc..But I have to wonder. When a major city gets destroyed, who should be responsible for fixing it? What happens when there's a massive earthquake in California and LA or the Bay Area gets seriously damaged? I always assumed (wrongly perhaps) that massive tragedies, and the rebuilding were one of justifications for hte Federal Gov'ts existence.

So I guess that Colbert's snarky remarks just seems like a weak jab at a President who should be getting pummeled daily by the press and public alike.

White Brown and or Black: Tea

2006-04-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

DSC_4098
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Tea @ SFMOMA, San Francisco

White Brown and or Black: Topaz

2006-04-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

DSC_4105
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Mercury Topaz, and Unfinished Building, San Francisco

White, Brown or Black: Mati

2006-04-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Mati
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Day of the Dead, San Francisco

White Brown and or Black: Lanmart Building

2006-04-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

Lanmart Building
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Lanmart Building, Petaluma

White, Brown and/or Black: Breda

2006-04-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

DSC_5075.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Breda bike, my studio.

Green: Freeway @ Night.

2006-04-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Freeway @ Night.
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

South of Market, San Francisco.

Green: Staples Roof with Moon

2006-04-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Staples Roof with Moon
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Staples Center, Los Angeles.

Green: Tunnel

2006-04-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

green_DSC_1532.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Tunnel in downtown LA at night.

Green: Hill

2006-04-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

green_DSC_1612.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Hill outside San Luis Obispo from a train at sunset.

Green: Ferns and Copper

2006-04-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

green_DSC_4092.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Atrium @ deYoung, San Francisco

Blue afternoon.

2006-04-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Blue_DSC_1498.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Woman on bus. Los Angeles.

Yellow (Red?) Paella.

2006-04-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

yellow_DSC_3395.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Mmmm..paella.

Yellow Hotel.

2006-04-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

yellow_DSC_4080.jpg
Originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Ok, I decided I'm not quite done with yellow. So here's a yellow hotel.