The River Cat.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Swamping out the photo bilge.
I've got lots of photos piling up that I've been meaning to post. I guess I'll post them by subject. First up: Petaluma River, and it's working boats.
Boats, ships, and the 1st world vs the third
So I'm listening to this book The Outlaw Sea, and while I cannot highly reccomend it, it enlightened me on a question I've been pondering for awhile: Where do all the old ships go? They used to go to places like Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana to get cut up. With rising wages, better jobs, and increased environmental regulation ship breaking has moved onto cheaper shores. First South Korea and Taiwan but now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. The book talks about Alang, India. A village that fronts on the Arabian Sea that experiences extreme tides. At the highest of the high tides (every two weeks) they plow ships onto the sand at full power and wait for the waters to recede. Then they cut them up.
The images of this are stunning. Imagine miles of beach/mudflats with the world's ships lined up in various stages of dissection. It's beautiful if not for the horrendous pollution, danger, and death that this industry causes. There is little to no thought for worker safety or protecting the environment. Greenpeace has become very vocal about this and has begun patrolling, infiltrating and documenting the worst of it, but sadly I think this strikes at the wrong target.
The worker safety is something that should be addressed, but the pollution is more our fault then India's in my mind. There are laws on the books that mandate before selling for scrap that all the toxic materials are to be removed and disposed of properly. Of course this is almost never done and there's no enforcement. So the Indians are left to clean up, or not clean up the mess. With margins so thin on ship-breaking if they impose to many expensive regulations, practices the whole industry will simply move somewhere else, as it has twice before because there is no real global oversight.
I'm stumped on the right solution. Something that is less patronizing than greenpeace's approach, but something that does solve the problem and not merely let a bad situation continue because peoples live depend on it...
At any rate the photos are stunning. Do an image search on Alang.
The images of this are stunning. Imagine miles of beach/mudflats with the world's ships lined up in various stages of dissection. It's beautiful if not for the horrendous pollution, danger, and death that this industry causes. There is little to no thought for worker safety or protecting the environment. Greenpeace has become very vocal about this and has begun patrolling, infiltrating and documenting the worst of it, but sadly I think this strikes at the wrong target.
The worker safety is something that should be addressed, but the pollution is more our fault then India's in my mind. There are laws on the books that mandate before selling for scrap that all the toxic materials are to be removed and disposed of properly. Of course this is almost never done and there's no enforcement. So the Indians are left to clean up, or not clean up the mess. With margins so thin on ship-breaking if they impose to many expensive regulations, practices the whole industry will simply move somewhere else, as it has twice before because there is no real global oversight.
I'm stumped on the right solution. Something that is less patronizing than greenpeace's approach, but something that does solve the problem and not merely let a bad situation continue because peoples live depend on it...
At any rate the photos are stunning. Do an image search on Alang.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Camping
I went camping this weekend up to Grover's Hot Springs in the eastern sierra. Man was it hot. Super hot. The drive both there and back was pretty gruelling, 105 degress, traffic and no A/C. Thanks to Andy and Laurel for letting me hitch a ride. I got to see a bunch of my friends and we mostly sat around and talked. Some played with Dan & Julies wonderful baby, who was probably the mellowest person there.
The best part, other than seeing my friends, was stacking rocks. I love stacking rocks. Laurel had a great idea that I won't post here, because she might actually do it and I don't want it getting poached.
But my idea was to write a grant to get big rock boxes installed in airports, kinda like sand boxes, but with river rocks. So you could pass the time waiting for your delayed flight by stacking rocks. Of course they'd probably have to be small so that no one got hurt lifting heavy rocks or having fingers and toes smashed but, even so, I discovered that stacking pebbles is also fun, if not quite as grandiose.
The best part, other than seeing my friends, was stacking rocks. I love stacking rocks. Laurel had a great idea that I won't post here, because she might actually do it and I don't want it getting poached.
But my idea was to write a grant to get big rock boxes installed in airports, kinda like sand boxes, but with river rocks. So you could pass the time waiting for your delayed flight by stacking rocks. Of course they'd probably have to be small so that no one got hurt lifting heavy rocks or having fingers and toes smashed but, even so, I discovered that stacking pebbles is also fun, if not quite as grandiose.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
What's that behind you? the A-Team!
'Thunder, thunder, thundercats, Ho! Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose. Feel the magic, hear the roar, Thundercats are loose. Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats! Thundercats!
There's a voice that keeps on calling me. Down the road, that's where I'll always be. Every stop I make, I make a new friend. Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again. Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down, Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.
Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-team.'
All of a sudden after years of silence, A-team references are popping up like zombies. The above 3 paragraphs came from a random text generator I wanted to use for formating instead of the standard lorum ipsum stuff. Now I feel like I'm going to see Mr. T in the produce section....
There's a voice that keeps on calling me. Down the road, that's where I'll always be. Every stop I make, I make a new friend. Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again. Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down, Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.
Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-team.'
All of a sudden after years of silence, A-team references are popping up like zombies. The above 3 paragraphs came from a random text generator I wanted to use for formating instead of the standard lorum ipsum stuff. Now I feel like I'm going to see Mr. T in the produce section....
Monday, July 11, 2005
It's like Tex-mex but with muppets
So fusion is all about taking complimentary flavors and smashing them together to get something great. That's almost what we have for the next great idea. I seem to remember this came to us during a very hot August while putting a roof on.
Title: D stands for Do the Right Thing
Plot: Have you seen Do the Right Thing? Have you seen Sesame Street? Ok you can see how the thing writes itself. It's just a matter of mapping the characters correctly.
Cast:
Mookie: Big Bird
Buggin Out: Oscar
Radio Raheem: Snuffleupagus (sp?)
Sal: Hooper (yeah I know he's dead, what about what his name, one of the human guys..yeah him)
Da Mayor: the Count? I can't remember who we had cast for Da Mayor...Ben do you know?
Bedford-Stuvesant: Sesame Street
Racial Tension between black and white? Speciel tension between muppet and human....
Finer moments:
racial epithet scene based on physical difference between muppets and humans.
Watching Big Bird throw a garbage can through a window.
oo! oo! maybe we can do a little muppet show cross over and have the old balcony guys and the swedish chef as the old guys who sit on the corner all day.
Title: D stands for Do the Right Thing
Plot: Have you seen Do the Right Thing? Have you seen Sesame Street? Ok you can see how the thing writes itself. It's just a matter of mapping the characters correctly.
Cast:
Mookie: Big Bird
Buggin Out: Oscar
Radio Raheem: Snuffleupagus (sp?)
Sal: Hooper (yeah I know he's dead, what about what his name, one of the human guys..yeah him)
Da Mayor: the Count? I can't remember who we had cast for Da Mayor...Ben do you know?
Bedford-Stuvesant: Sesame Street
Racial Tension between black and white? Speciel tension between muppet and human....
Finer moments:
racial epithet scene based on physical difference between muppets and humans.
Watching Big Bird throw a garbage can through a window.
oo! oo! maybe we can do a little muppet show cross over and have the old balcony guys and the swedish chef as the old guys who sit on the corner all day.
If they made Herbie...
Some of my best ideas are collaborative, but the secret in getting the credit for collaborative ideas (DNA discovery?) is to be louder and more obnoxious than your partner. Ben Saari and I came up with two movie ideas while we were carpentering together, and we even had some ideas about casting. Let's take a look at what some fresh minds, unsullied by hollywood glitz or decent agents can create.
Title: A-Team 2000 (working title, may need to be updated...)
Plot: In this particular time-stream (Trek fans will know what I mean) the A-Team was a real unit, and now 20 years after they went into hiding, Hollywood digs them out and starts filming a movie 'based on the true story.' Except the meglomaniacal dictator (who hits women, and maybe has a bad scar on his cheek) that was overthrown by the A-Team is out for revenge, and sends his hapless goons (lots of black sweaters and vans) to kidnap them and bring them back to his caribbian fortress. His goons, being goons, kidnap the wrong A-Team, they kidnap the actors who were hired to play the A-Team! Which means the 'real' A-Team has to come out of retirement, storm the island and save the actors, with plenty of explosions, jeeps rolling over in mid air, choppers flying over palm trees. It's perfect. Maybe we can even get a couple of Cigarette boats in there for some Miami Vice flavor (can someone get in touch with Phillip Michael Thomas? It'd be a great cameo, and face it, he needs the work).
Cast:
Actors playing themselves, as actors portraying the A-Team:
B.A. Barracas: Ving Rhaimes (oo! oo! we could remake the A-Team van into a Hummer!)
Face: George Clooney (too old? Ok, fine how about Christian Bale?)
Madman Murdock: Jim Carrey, come on, who else?
And of course, Mr. T, George Peppard and those other guys playing the 'real' ATeam....
Title: A-Team 2000 (working title, may need to be updated...)
Plot: In this particular time-stream (Trek fans will know what I mean) the A-Team was a real unit, and now 20 years after they went into hiding, Hollywood digs them out and starts filming a movie 'based on the true story.' Except the meglomaniacal dictator (who hits women, and maybe has a bad scar on his cheek) that was overthrown by the A-Team is out for revenge, and sends his hapless goons (lots of black sweaters and vans) to kidnap them and bring them back to his caribbian fortress. His goons, being goons, kidnap the wrong A-Team, they kidnap the actors who were hired to play the A-Team! Which means the 'real' A-Team has to come out of retirement, storm the island and save the actors, with plenty of explosions, jeeps rolling over in mid air, choppers flying over palm trees. It's perfect. Maybe we can even get a couple of Cigarette boats in there for some Miami Vice flavor (can someone get in touch with Phillip Michael Thomas? It'd be a great cameo, and face it, he needs the work).
Cast:
Actors playing themselves, as actors portraying the A-Team:
B.A. Barracas: Ving Rhaimes (oo! oo! we could remake the A-Team van into a Hummer!)
Face: George Clooney (too old? Ok, fine how about Christian Bale?)
Madman Murdock: Jim Carrey, come on, who else?
And of course, Mr. T, George Peppard and those other guys playing the 'real' ATeam....
Oh my god, it's brilliant!
First one, is my latest. I think it's great, but probably the trickiest to accomplish. Check it out: Cross breed an avacodo with peppers. The result will be a spicy avocado which I call "Lavacado" (remember, 42' Sloop, berth in SF). Not only is the name cool, but you won't need so many peppers when you make guacomole!
Lavacado folks, now go and spread the word.
Lavacado folks, now go and spread the word.
Great ideas
Sometimes I think I'm in the wrong business, I mean, I'm a great idea man. Not so good with the details or the follow through, but for ideas? I'm good. I've been hoarding my best for a while, but I realize that I will probably never do much with any of them, so in the spirit of giving I will share and if anyone actually gets these things off the ground, give me a little credit and send me a postcard. If you make millions off of my idea, I'd like a 41' Center cockpit sloop and a live aboard berth near downtown SF. Thanks.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Wheee..summer time
A little reccomendation: Go find a copy of Tom Waits "Step Right Up." and find a fun car to drive (say, like a 2002) through west county at dusk. It does wonders to blow away the stress. Bonus points for sunroofs or convertables.
PS. Search and Destroy by Iggy and the Stooges is also acceptable.
PS. Search and Destroy by Iggy and the Stooges is also acceptable.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Wow part deux: Wabi-sabi
Meredith's art is hanging in a show that openned last night: Wabi-Sabi at the O'hanlon Center in Mill Valley. This is her first exhibition of her new encaustic work. Go check it out!
Wow.
This morning when I started up my mac, it took me to the apple home page, and lo and behold there was Shannon Ferguson's band Longwave being the featured iTunes Ad! Funny thing this life...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Fruit
Ok I did it. I"ve been whinging on for months about wanting a new mac laptop, and yesterday I finally bought one. I haven't owned a fruit-box since the Macintosh Plus (and I was jealous of those who had the super-cool external 20 Mb hard drives, which were the size of phone books). Since then it's been a long string of windows and linux boxes, including my poor ailing HP laptop which took a beating and got me through college, but as it's now missing keys, overheating and the fan makes a terrible grinding/flapping noise which was really embarrassing in class. I've been following the press and the blogs about OS X, and it's latest incarnation Tiger, but every time I sat down to work on one I couldn't figure out the GUI, so I'd just admire from afar. But when it came down to spend some serious money on a new laptop I really wanted it to be a mac.
So how's 'The Switch?' my geekier friends may be asking..
I got to say, I like it. In fact I love it. It took a few hours to retrain my hands, but now that I've been running this thing since about noon yesterday almost nothing feels odd or out of place. It's certainly easier to pickup than windows > linux. The secret is in the built in mega-search tool Spotlight, and a little 3rd party app called Quicksilver. Quicksilver is simply the best thing to come along to laptop computing since wifi. The website doesn't do it justice. It's a search tool/launcher that learns how you use your machine. For example, I'm writing this blog, but say I want iTunes open, all i have to do is hit 4 keys and iTunes is open. No mouse hunting, or drilling down application menus. Just four keys. And it works with all the stuff on my machine. Apps, documents, commands, whatever. It's simply brilliant and I haven't even begun to use it's capabilities yet. It does more than I can even comprehend at the moment, but if you have a mac, get quicksilver right now. You'll be amazed.
So. I'll pause on the mac-fanatic tip for a moment and post some photos that have been piling up.
So how's 'The Switch?' my geekier friends may be asking..
I got to say, I like it. In fact I love it. It took a few hours to retrain my hands, but now that I've been running this thing since about noon yesterday almost nothing feels odd or out of place. It's certainly easier to pickup than windows > linux. The secret is in the built in mega-search tool Spotlight, and a little 3rd party app called Quicksilver. Quicksilver is simply the best thing to come along to laptop computing since wifi. The website doesn't do it justice. It's a search tool/launcher that learns how you use your machine. For example, I'm writing this blog, but say I want iTunes open, all i have to do is hit 4 keys and iTunes is open. No mouse hunting, or drilling down application menus. Just four keys. And it works with all the stuff on my machine. Apps, documents, commands, whatever. It's simply brilliant and I haven't even begun to use it's capabilities yet. It does more than I can even comprehend at the moment, but if you have a mac, get quicksilver right now. You'll be amazed.
So. I'll pause on the mac-fanatic tip for a moment and post some photos that have been piling up.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Friday fun
Today was our company Open House party. We moved into a new place on 4/15 and finally got around to having a grand openning. And what an openning. We had Paella for 100 by Gerard the Paella Guy. Cheese from Cowgirl Creamery (I highly reccomend the Red Hawk on baguette with figs). I'm sooo stuffed, and because we didn't have enough people show up, I have tons of leftovers (hooray!).
And (here's the best part) I get all weekend off. I am a happy happy camper.
And (here's the best part) I get all weekend off. I am a happy happy camper.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Hotel Edith
Last night I attempted to sleep aboard Edith. I've been meaning to do it for some time to test out the accomadations for camping, and just to sleep on 'my' boat. I have visions of gently being rocked to sleep by the waves and tides on the Petaluma River, and waking up at dawn to the honking of Canadian Geese. Thankfully most of that was true. It had been a hot hot day, and even in the cool of the night the boat remained pleasantly warm. I unpacked my sleeping bag, pad, pillow and laptop (gotta watch movies right?) and settled in. Occasionally one of the big push-tugs from Jerico would rumble past and provide a little additional wave action. I was fast asleep in minutes. But by 2:30 I was back home in my own bed. Dang.
The problem it turned out was two fold: I'm a softie and my boat is stinky.
I'm a softie: There's no padding on the'bunks' in Edith, and while I have a sleeping pad, I've gotten soft in the passing years and woke up stiff and sore at 2 am. Not enough hip padding and the bunks are lightly tilted the wrong way so your head is just lower then your feet. These problems are easily fixable, and I intend to give it another shot with addditional foam and maybe adding more weight to the bow (she's not on her water lines anyway since we removed the fuel tanks).
In answer to Laurel who raised a good question: if the bed is the wrong angle why not flip around? Because then my face will be up under the deck and if I sit up I'll smack my face into an oaken beam. And I like my pretty face. I suppose I could adapt and learn to scoot down before I bolt upright in bed, but I didn't want to take a chance last night.
Stinky Boat: Since we removed her fuel tanks we've resorted to a small 3 gallon tank on the bridge (in the cabin) and whenever we top off a little diesel or biodiesel gets spilled and then wiped up. We keep her closed up tight most of the time especially with the out of season rains we've had, and she hasn't been cleaned since River Cleanup Day. So her cabin was pretty fumy. I open the portlights and kept the door open for a while, but closed it when I was ready for bed and when I woke at 2 I was a little woozy. I can't be sure if this was because of the fumes or because of the 'gentle rocking' but I decided that I'd decamp for home until I've given her a thorough scrub and clean the detritus out of her. Again a solvable problem (maybe) and something that I'd like to attempt again soon.
Also it would probably be wise to attempt this on a non-work night. But the idea hit me last night and I wanted to sieze the opportunity.
The problem it turned out was two fold: I'm a softie and my boat is stinky.
I'm a softie: There's no padding on the'bunks' in Edith, and while I have a sleeping pad, I've gotten soft in the passing years and woke up stiff and sore at 2 am. Not enough hip padding and the bunks are lightly tilted the wrong way so your head is just lower then your feet. These problems are easily fixable, and I intend to give it another shot with addditional foam and maybe adding more weight to the bow (she's not on her water lines anyway since we removed the fuel tanks).
In answer to Laurel who raised a good question: if the bed is the wrong angle why not flip around? Because then my face will be up under the deck and if I sit up I'll smack my face into an oaken beam. And I like my pretty face. I suppose I could adapt and learn to scoot down before I bolt upright in bed, but I didn't want to take a chance last night.
Stinky Boat: Since we removed her fuel tanks we've resorted to a small 3 gallon tank on the bridge (in the cabin) and whenever we top off a little diesel or biodiesel gets spilled and then wiped up. We keep her closed up tight most of the time especially with the out of season rains we've had, and she hasn't been cleaned since River Cleanup Day. So her cabin was pretty fumy. I open the portlights and kept the door open for a while, but closed it when I was ready for bed and when I woke at 2 I was a little woozy. I can't be sure if this was because of the fumes or because of the 'gentle rocking' but I decided that I'd decamp for home until I've given her a thorough scrub and clean the detritus out of her. Again a solvable problem (maybe) and something that I'd like to attempt again soon.
Also it would probably be wise to attempt this on a non-work night. But the idea hit me last night and I wanted to sieze the opportunity.
Monday, June 27, 2005
I guess that's why it's called work.
Or: Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays.
Sadly my working life has begun to resemble Office Space in serious ways, except I can't tell which character I am. I think I'm either Mike Bolton or Samir. I spent almost this entire weekend working, but for that I blame my suprisingly robust sense of honor. I told them it would be done on time, and damn it, I'll do everything I can to make that so.
In other news I'm getting a promotion, so maybe it will be somewhat worth it, because frankly it is way to depressing to have grown up and become a guy who hates his job. It's too cliche.
Sigh.
Sadly my working life has begun to resemble Office Space in serious ways, except I can't tell which character I am. I think I'm either Mike Bolton or Samir. I spent almost this entire weekend working, but for that I blame my suprisingly robust sense of honor. I told them it would be done on time, and damn it, I'll do everything I can to make that so.
In other news I'm getting a promotion, so maybe it will be somewhat worth it, because frankly it is way to depressing to have grown up and become a guy who hates his job. It's too cliche.
Sigh.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
T
Aaack! ok ok. I just got home from work, and in my mailbox was a package. Well, an envelope, but it was one of those biggies. I forget how exciting it is to recieve actual, physical, mail from people. In it was a zine about tea, and a lovely card, and another zine which is a reprint of Mother Earth from 1914 with an essay by Emma Goldman. My friend Jaime had promised to send me this zine some weeks ago at the Free Mind grand opening and I'd been anticipating it greatly.
See I love tea. I believe she has called me a tea freak, but I prefer to consider myself more of a jonny tea-seed, or teavangelist. There is nothing like a good cup of tea, and I'll be the first to admit I have a healthy dose of tea snobbery. I like my tea black, strong, and not at all flowery. People like herb teas, and other lesser greens and blacks, but for me nothing beats a good thick cup of Irish Breakfast, except for perhaps a particularly smokey Lapsang Souchong. And I like to think that I've inspired others to start drinking tea by my interest and endless nattering about how good it is.
So Jamie sent me this zine and I began reading it. It's good, clearly whoever put this together understands the tea thing. I wish I'd known about it before as I would've love to contributed to it, but alas. As I'm reading it I notice it's dedicated to Vadellia and Scottyj. Hm. I don't normally refer to myself as ScottyJ so I don't immediately put it together (note to those in the audience who are snickering at my slowheadedness: I didn't realize that Jamie helped put this zine out). Allow me the egocentric indulgence of quoting the dedication, as I don't think I've ever had something dedicated to me before:
"The love of tea, tobacco, the high seas and flowerfields. All one needs is a little bit of conviction, desire, passion and patience. This zine shares the magic of tea, dedicated to two of the biggest dreamers an sweetest tea drinkers I know, you've taught me so much. Thank you. "
Whoa, I think to myself. It's eerie how much this 'other' scottyj sounds like me...yes the penny still hasn't dropped. I keep reading and come to "Tea Freakdom Theory" which I will republish here:
"Now, this may not hold true for all tea freaks, as with most things truth is whatever your brain thinks is real, (((Actually the line is "whatever your brian thinks is real" which is a better line really))) I think this is a pretty good theory: People will not become obsessed with tea unless they are former coffee drinkers who have quit coffee (for whatever reason). let me tell you of my reasoning, through noticing patterns. Scottyj. When Scottyj and I meet he was always talking about & drinking tea (really I was puzzled and thought it was a bit over the top) tea was brought up in conversation, more than that average person might want to chat and drink and chat more about tea. I didn't really understand & I still might not fully cuz I never asked, but this is only an observation. So one day when we were hanging out I noticed a tatoo of COFFEE, yes a coffee cup on his forearm. (((Yup. I finally guessed it might be me))) I sound found out that he is an x-coffee lover turned true tea freak....I had no idea that two years and 1000+ soy lattes later I would know exactly what was going on. A deep understanding for the path that may lead some to tea freakdom, you either get it or you don't- Traits you'll find in coffee yearning tea obsessors: Always talking about tea. Excited about and know tea types. They feel really proud ordering tea at coffee shops. And again we talk more about tea than you might like. We ALWAYS REALLY want or at least THINK about COFFEE- it's true. And late at night you might find us on a solo mission at the nearby cafe 'sneaking' a latte or americano."
Now I love Jamie. But I actually have to disagree with her on the premise that tea-freakdom is merely covering for coffee-lust. I'll say this because I have gone back to the dark side. I drink coffee again, and lots of it, and can fairly assess both sides of the fence. I gave up coffee because i was suffering from some bad stomach problems that coffee was exasperating, but while that forced me into drinking tea more seriously than I would've, I found that I love tea more than I ever loved coffee. Sadly my freakdom is not a cover for a supressed desire, but the truly geeky embrace of tea on it's own merits. I drink coffee again because I can, but also because I've grown into a true tea snob. I'd rather drink coffee than a badly made cup of tea. And my tastes have become so rareified that it's nigh on impossible to find a good cup of tea. Laurel can make a good cup, Meredith can make a brilliant pot, but sadly that's about it. Everybody else, from friends and family to cafes, can't make a good cup of tea. Also, I can't make a good cup of tea at work, so I drink coffee. You need 3 things to make a good cup of tea: BOILING water, strong tea (Campbell's, Yorkshire Gold), and cold fresh milk. Without enought good tea, and BOILING water all you get is an insipid, watery, mess. It reminds me of Douglas Adams machine in HHG2TG that can make a drink that is almost, entirely, unlike tea. I feel that he was talking about American tea making skills here. I like milk in my tea, and while some may scoff, I think it's quite good. I urge you all out there to try a good cup of tea sometime, it's restorative effects are far greater than you might imagine. And to Jamie, thanks for sending me the zine, and dedicating it to me. I'm deeply honored, and pleased that my incessent babbling about tea managed to convert another formerly lost soul.
"What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea." -Syndey Smith
See I love tea. I believe she has called me a tea freak, but I prefer to consider myself more of a jonny tea-seed, or teavangelist. There is nothing like a good cup of tea, and I'll be the first to admit I have a healthy dose of tea snobbery. I like my tea black, strong, and not at all flowery. People like herb teas, and other lesser greens and blacks, but for me nothing beats a good thick cup of Irish Breakfast, except for perhaps a particularly smokey Lapsang Souchong. And I like to think that I've inspired others to start drinking tea by my interest and endless nattering about how good it is.
So Jamie sent me this zine and I began reading it. It's good, clearly whoever put this together understands the tea thing. I wish I'd known about it before as I would've love to contributed to it, but alas. As I'm reading it I notice it's dedicated to Vadellia and Scottyj. Hm. I don't normally refer to myself as ScottyJ so I don't immediately put it together (note to those in the audience who are snickering at my slowheadedness: I didn't realize that Jamie helped put this zine out). Allow me the egocentric indulgence of quoting the dedication, as I don't think I've ever had something dedicated to me before:
"The love of tea, tobacco, the high seas and flowerfields. All one needs is a little bit of conviction, desire, passion and patience. This zine shares the magic of tea, dedicated to two of the biggest dreamers an sweetest tea drinkers I know, you've taught me so much. Thank you. "
Whoa, I think to myself. It's eerie how much this 'other' scottyj sounds like me...yes the penny still hasn't dropped. I keep reading and come to "Tea Freakdom Theory" which I will republish here:
"Now, this may not hold true for all tea freaks, as with most things truth is whatever your brain thinks is real, (((Actually the line is "whatever your brian thinks is real" which is a better line really))) I think this is a pretty good theory: People will not become obsessed with tea unless they are former coffee drinkers who have quit coffee (for whatever reason). let me tell you of my reasoning, through noticing patterns. Scottyj. When Scottyj and I meet he was always talking about & drinking tea (really I was puzzled and thought it was a bit over the top) tea was brought up in conversation, more than that average person might want to chat and drink and chat more about tea. I didn't really understand & I still might not fully cuz I never asked, but this is only an observation. So one day when we were hanging out I noticed a tatoo of COFFEE, yes a coffee cup on his forearm. (((Yup. I finally guessed it might be me))) I sound found out that he is an x-coffee lover turned true tea freak....I had no idea that two years and 1000+ soy lattes later I would know exactly what was going on. A deep understanding for the path that may lead some to tea freakdom, you either get it or you don't- Traits you'll find in coffee yearning tea obsessors: Always talking about tea. Excited about and know tea types. They feel really proud ordering tea at coffee shops. And again we talk more about tea than you might like. We ALWAYS REALLY want or at least THINK about COFFEE- it's true. And late at night you might find us on a solo mission at the nearby cafe 'sneaking' a latte or americano."
Now I love Jamie. But I actually have to disagree with her on the premise that tea-freakdom is merely covering for coffee-lust. I'll say this because I have gone back to the dark side. I drink coffee again, and lots of it, and can fairly assess both sides of the fence. I gave up coffee because i was suffering from some bad stomach problems that coffee was exasperating, but while that forced me into drinking tea more seriously than I would've, I found that I love tea more than I ever loved coffee. Sadly my freakdom is not a cover for a supressed desire, but the truly geeky embrace of tea on it's own merits. I drink coffee again because I can, but also because I've grown into a true tea snob. I'd rather drink coffee than a badly made cup of tea. And my tastes have become so rareified that it's nigh on impossible to find a good cup of tea. Laurel can make a good cup, Meredith can make a brilliant pot, but sadly that's about it. Everybody else, from friends and family to cafes, can't make a good cup of tea. Also, I can't make a good cup of tea at work, so I drink coffee. You need 3 things to make a good cup of tea: BOILING water, strong tea (Campbell's, Yorkshire Gold), and cold fresh milk. Without enought good tea, and BOILING water all you get is an insipid, watery, mess. It reminds me of Douglas Adams machine in HHG2TG that can make a drink that is almost, entirely, unlike tea. I feel that he was talking about American tea making skills here. I like milk in my tea, and while some may scoff, I think it's quite good. I urge you all out there to try a good cup of tea sometime, it's restorative effects are far greater than you might imagine. And to Jamie, thanks for sending me the zine, and dedicating it to me. I'm deeply honored, and pleased that my incessent babbling about tea managed to convert another formerly lost soul.
"What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea." -Syndey Smith
P-town, cars, fixing stuff.
Random posts today. I got my head off this weekend along with all the buckets of ancilliary components that surround it. I didn't see any obvious blowouts of the gasket or erosion of the head, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it's just warped. I think my only other possibility is that it's cracked which would mean I need a new head. Money is tight so I'm going to be taking my time on this project because as I tore into everything I saw lots of little things that need replacing such as rubber bits, water pipes, gaskets...I'm constantly flopping back and forth between just keeping this car running, and 'doing it right.' Of course 'doing it right' is really a range of options, but whenever I fix something it is always an internal war between speed and quality. I'd love to have the time and resources to really go over every piece and clean, repaint, get new nuts/bolts/washers, but as I learned in boatschool I don't have the paitence. As much as I want everything perfect I want equally to get it running. So it falls somewhere in the middle.
I was thinking last night about my obsession for fixing things and I was trying to figure out where it came from. I think it comes from certain characters and more importantly certain worldviews I was exposed to as a child. Growing up in the 80's there was a surfet of post-apocalypse stories around, no doubt influenced by the state of the Cold War. So I grew up with a certain sense that civilization was going to end and I think that there were two stories that heavily influenced my sense of who I wanted to be: Road Warrior, and The Stand. In both those stories there were minor characters who knew how things worked. They could take the pieces of the lost civilization and make them work for new purposes. They 'hacked' the technology of the past. From rebuilding the 'last of the great v-8s' to knowing that a dirt bike is better post apocalyptic transport than a car. These seemed like awesome powers to me then. Like mechanistic shamans in a way. I wanted to be like that. Or like Han Solo. Bombing around the galaxy in a ship that looked like hell but actually turned out to be faster and more deadly then it had any right to be. That was way cooler than simply having a fast shiny, ship. Which I think is why sports cars (porsches, ferraris etc) hold no interest for me. But show me a sleeper 2002, or Volvo wagon and I get all giddy.
But beyond the fictional characters, I can look to my family for a lot of the influence as well. I come from a line of craftsman and tinkerers. My grandfather was the liason between the engineers and the shop floor for JPL during the 60s and 70s. One of my earliest memories of him was when we were at his house in Orange County and he had popped off to his workshop to make us a couple of toys. He welded up some wire into to geometric shapes: a sphere and a cube. I remember glancing into his workshop while he was making them and seeing really bright blue light and lots of sparks. It seemed like magic to me. My dad has always had a workbench and projects around the house, and he was self-taught. I loved working with him as a kid or watching him work. He's built cabinets, decks, beds and he's masterful with trim. And he's entirely self-taugh for his father was not a handyman. All of these influences have guided me, inspired me to learn as much as I can about how everything gets built, and therefore how it all works. I feel we have a responsiblity to know about the technologies we depend on. Which is why I've also started playing with computers. Up until a couple of years ago I enjoyed computers for games, and email. I was reasonably computer literate, but not in how they work or what you can get them to do. I've found myself, semi-conciously embarking on the same type of self-education I did with cars. I've got some old cheap computers and I take them apart, try and fix or improve them and note the results. This has led me to linux, and websites like hackaday.com, and I love reading what people are getting these machines to do. It's an exciting time to be alive.
I was thinking last night about my obsession for fixing things and I was trying to figure out where it came from. I think it comes from certain characters and more importantly certain worldviews I was exposed to as a child. Growing up in the 80's there was a surfet of post-apocalypse stories around, no doubt influenced by the state of the Cold War. So I grew up with a certain sense that civilization was going to end and I think that there were two stories that heavily influenced my sense of who I wanted to be: Road Warrior, and The Stand. In both those stories there were minor characters who knew how things worked. They could take the pieces of the lost civilization and make them work for new purposes. They 'hacked' the technology of the past. From rebuilding the 'last of the great v-8s' to knowing that a dirt bike is better post apocalyptic transport than a car. These seemed like awesome powers to me then. Like mechanistic shamans in a way. I wanted to be like that. Or like Han Solo. Bombing around the galaxy in a ship that looked like hell but actually turned out to be faster and more deadly then it had any right to be. That was way cooler than simply having a fast shiny, ship. Which I think is why sports cars (porsches, ferraris etc) hold no interest for me. But show me a sleeper 2002, or Volvo wagon and I get all giddy.
But beyond the fictional characters, I can look to my family for a lot of the influence as well. I come from a line of craftsman and tinkerers. My grandfather was the liason between the engineers and the shop floor for JPL during the 60s and 70s. One of my earliest memories of him was when we were at his house in Orange County and he had popped off to his workshop to make us a couple of toys. He welded up some wire into to geometric shapes: a sphere and a cube. I remember glancing into his workshop while he was making them and seeing really bright blue light and lots of sparks. It seemed like magic to me. My dad has always had a workbench and projects around the house, and he was self-taught. I loved working with him as a kid or watching him work. He's built cabinets, decks, beds and he's masterful with trim. And he's entirely self-taugh for his father was not a handyman. All of these influences have guided me, inspired me to learn as much as I can about how everything gets built, and therefore how it all works. I feel we have a responsiblity to know about the technologies we depend on. Which is why I've also started playing with computers. Up until a couple of years ago I enjoyed computers for games, and email. I was reasonably computer literate, but not in how they work or what you can get them to do. I've found myself, semi-conciously embarking on the same type of self-education I did with cars. I've got some old cheap computers and I take them apart, try and fix or improve them and note the results. This has led me to linux, and websites like hackaday.com, and I love reading what people are getting these machines to do. It's an exciting time to be alive.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Ahh friday
What a crappy week. I worked 30 hours in the first 48. And then the rest of it was rush rush rush. I'm so glad it's over. This weekend should be fun: tomorrow is a 2002 tech session here in p-town, with bbq so I'll be learning car stuff and eating meat. Two things I enjoy. Saturday night I'll probably start tearing into my car (actually I'll probably start tonight) to see how bad my headgasket problem is. Hopefully I'll have all the major stuff fixed by next month and it will be running super well. There's another 02 just up the street from my office that the guy might sell for super cheap. It's got some more mechanical issues (as in not currently running) but it's body is in much better shape than mine so if I can find a spot to park it over the summer I may try to swap out all the good working parts of my car into that one. We'll see. Sadly my car is riddled with rust that would cost thousands upon thousands to fix. So if you have a decent spot I can safely park a car for several months (i'll pay) let me know, preferably here in Sonoma Co.
Sunday should be a nice relaxing day with Meredith. Maybe a bike ride, maybe some work on her deck, maybe just lounging around eating popsicles and watching documentaries.
Monday night I'll be heading south to see Star Wars with my brother and cousin. I've not seen it yet, but I was sorely disapointed with the first 2. Maybe I've just grown out of Star Wars, maybe Lucas has outgrown his ability to tell a compelling story. Maybe it's hard to tell a compelling story when everyone knows how it ends.
In computer news I've got my various machines all running Ubuntu and now I need to figure out how to get them to consistantly speak to each other. I may do that after it gets dark.
Sunday should be a nice relaxing day with Meredith. Maybe a bike ride, maybe some work on her deck, maybe just lounging around eating popsicles and watching documentaries.
Monday night I'll be heading south to see Star Wars with my brother and cousin. I've not seen it yet, but I was sorely disapointed with the first 2. Maybe I've just grown out of Star Wars, maybe Lucas has outgrown his ability to tell a compelling story. Maybe it's hard to tell a compelling story when everyone knows how it ends.
In computer news I've got my various machines all running Ubuntu and now I need to figure out how to get them to consistantly speak to each other. I may do that after it gets dark.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Ugh.
So I ate something that didn't agree with me and now I feel bad. Kinda dizzy. And my kitchen smell like cat ass.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Car Madness part deux.
Dang! I just got my car back from my new mechanic (Casey Motorsports) with the diagnosis I was fearing: Blown Headgasket, or cracked head/block. His estimate of $750-$1000 to fix it is way more than I can spend on this thing right now so it'll sit until I've got the time/$/parts to do it myself. I've never fixed a head gasket before so it'll be a good learning experience right?
He also noticed a ton of other little things that weren't right: Fuel injection system is missing parts, wrong coil, weird battery, etc...This is in addition to my already long to-do list:
# Strut Bearings*
# Trim (beltline, and rocker)*
# Dash
* Odometer/trip
* Fuel
* Clock speed
# Rattle (undercarriage)
# FI Tuneup
# Swap Taillight Lenses
# Install rear reflectors
# Petronix/Crane ignition*
# Bumper install
# Screw down grills*
# Heater valve
# Blower motor check
# Stereo clock fix
# Center console fix/cover
Sigh. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Of course I could just dump this car and get another one. Maybe save up some money (ha!) and buy one in the $3-$5k range which would be less rusted. It pains me to spend so much time and money on a car that still looks likes shit at the end of the day. But then I'm also like the cat-lady at the pound. I hate to see a neat old car just wear out.
Of course the other part of me says: Sell all your vehicles and just ride your bike. That is also tempting.
He also noticed a ton of other little things that weren't right: Fuel injection system is missing parts, wrong coil, weird battery, etc...This is in addition to my already long to-do list:
# Strut Bearings*
# Trim (beltline, and rocker)*
# Dash
* Odometer/trip
* Fuel
* Clock speed
# Rattle (undercarriage)
# FI Tuneup
# Swap Taillight Lenses
# Install rear reflectors
# Petronix/Crane ignition*
# Bumper install
# Screw down grills*
# Heater valve
# Blower motor check
# Stereo clock fix
# Center console fix/cover
Sigh. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Of course I could just dump this car and get another one. Maybe save up some money (ha!) and buy one in the $3-$5k range which would be less rusted. It pains me to spend so much time and money on a car that still looks likes shit at the end of the day. But then I'm also like the cat-lady at the pound. I hate to see a neat old car just wear out.
Of course the other part of me says: Sell all your vehicles and just ride your bike. That is also tempting.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Errata
New favorite show: Firefly (too bad I've already burned through all the episodes...but the movie is coming out this fall!)
New favorite online article: It's the Monkeysphere stupid!
New favorite linux distro: Ubuntu
Useful tools:
Best to-do list setup ever (for me)
thumbdrive PIM software, good, but windows.
New favorite online article: It's the Monkeysphere stupid!
New favorite linux distro: Ubuntu
Useful tools:
Best to-do list setup ever (for me)
thumbdrive PIM software, good, but windows.
Car Madness
In addition to the computer work which has been taking my nights, I've gotten my BMW back on the road and that has led to a flurry of little fix-it jobs. The major one was fixing the brakes. The calipers were dodgy and the driver's side front was dragging to the point that it had warped the rotor and gouged it pretty well (also the resultant heat had cooked the grease in the wheel bearing). I had hoped to have all the pieces in place to get it fixed before the BayArea02 Swap & Show but alas, it didn't happen. I went down anyway (it was in Palo Alto) and saw lots of shiny cars, and met a few nice people.
The parts finally came, and since the beginning of the month I've:
-replaced the discs, calipers, wheel bearings in the front.
-reinstalled the stereo/speakers & Center console
-Installed oil-pressure/temp gauges
-Oil change
-Trunk seal
-Refurbished the tail-reflectors, lenses and replaced the seals
-Refurbished the gauges (fuel gauge still not working, must be sender), fixed the turn signal dash light.
-Installed a driver's seat from a E30 M3
-Tune the FI by ear to get it running better (my ex-mechanic tuned it, and in the process destroyed it's drivability, and made it run far too lean, thus hot). It still needs some tuning, but I will take it to a place here in Petaluma and see what they can do for it.
I want to get it into good running shape (reliable, fast, good mileage) for some driving events coming up: California Melee; the Alpine 500 (which I missed just barely this year. Damn!)
Also I just want to do some general road-trip fun (LA, sierras, etc..) as this is the year I will take my first ever paid vacation. Yay!
The parts finally came, and since the beginning of the month I've:
-replaced the discs, calipers, wheel bearings in the front.
-reinstalled the stereo/speakers & Center console
-Installed oil-pressure/temp gauges
-Oil change
-Trunk seal
-Refurbished the tail-reflectors, lenses and replaced the seals
-Refurbished the gauges (fuel gauge still not working, must be sender), fixed the turn signal dash light.
-Installed a driver's seat from a E30 M3
-Tune the FI by ear to get it running better (my ex-mechanic tuned it, and in the process destroyed it's drivability, and made it run far too lean, thus hot). It still needs some tuning, but I will take it to a place here in Petaluma and see what they can do for it.
I want to get it into good running shape (reliable, fast, good mileage) for some driving events coming up: California Melee; the Alpine 500 (which I missed just barely this year. Damn!)
Also I just want to do some general road-trip fun (LA, sierras, etc..) as this is the year I will take my first ever paid vacation. Yay!
Dusty old blog...
I don't know if anyone is still looking at this with any avidity, but I apologize for the long delay between posts. I've been busy with other projects and had a cluster of hardware/computer difficulties. That being said, I hope to add some more stuff here on a fairly regular basis (isn't that the comment that always dooms a website?)
So to start off, or perhaps to catch up, here's what I've been working on in no particular order:
A pair of little, old panasonic laptops (CF-25, CF-M32 sub-note) that Gary gave me. One had a broken DOS installation, and the other had a buggy win98 installation. I wiped them both and then worked (and worked and worked) to get linux on them. The trick as it turns out, is that the little guy (CF-m32), which is about the size of a paperback book has no floppy/cdrom so trying to get data onto it once you've wiped the operating system is very hard. I ended up taking thing to pieces and pulling the hard drive. After patching the drive to my desktop system and getting a basic Debian installation running on it, I was able to update/install over the network.
The CF-25 is an armored laptop (drive over it with your car, drop it, clobber someone with it) and it's pretty pokey. But it has a swapable floppy and CD-ROM drive, but still it was a challenge, as you can't boot from the CD-rom and there's no USB. Also during the many attemps to install something happened with the MBR that made it...resistant to any further monkeying. I pulled the same trick: pull the drive mount it in my desktop, and wipe the sucker spotless, then reinstall. Now it runs debian as well, albeit too slowly to be of much use (except at the command line, which I'm still shakey with). The upside is that I've learned a tremendous amount about linux, command line work, hardware, and general geekiness.
During all of this, Meredith's laptop decided to die (power-in came off the motherboard) so I pulled the hard drive out of my laptop and plugged hers in. This gave her some functionality so she could continue to work. Then my desktop winxp installation got seriously corrupt and took the MBR with it as well, so I did a re-install, and went with Ubuntu (an extremely user-friendly linux distro) and I like it.
Last weekend Meredith got a new laptop (due to a financial angel who co-signed for her at compusa) and I got my case back. So now I'm back to my old laptop (which seems so dodgy and worn out compared to Merediths shiny new Toshiba), but I still pine for a 12" Mac. Maybe if I get a raise this month.....
So to start off, or perhaps to catch up, here's what I've been working on in no particular order:
A pair of little, old panasonic laptops (CF-25, CF-M32 sub-note) that Gary gave me. One had a broken DOS installation, and the other had a buggy win98 installation. I wiped them both and then worked (and worked and worked) to get linux on them. The trick as it turns out, is that the little guy (CF-m32), which is about the size of a paperback book has no floppy/cdrom so trying to get data onto it once you've wiped the operating system is very hard. I ended up taking thing to pieces and pulling the hard drive. After patching the drive to my desktop system and getting a basic Debian installation running on it, I was able to update/install over the network.
The CF-25 is an armored laptop (drive over it with your car, drop it, clobber someone with it) and it's pretty pokey. But it has a swapable floppy and CD-ROM drive, but still it was a challenge, as you can't boot from the CD-rom and there's no USB. Also during the many attemps to install something happened with the MBR that made it...resistant to any further monkeying. I pulled the same trick: pull the drive mount it in my desktop, and wipe the sucker spotless, then reinstall. Now it runs debian as well, albeit too slowly to be of much use (except at the command line, which I'm still shakey with). The upside is that I've learned a tremendous amount about linux, command line work, hardware, and general geekiness.
During all of this, Meredith's laptop decided to die (power-in came off the motherboard) so I pulled the hard drive out of my laptop and plugged hers in. This gave her some functionality so she could continue to work. Then my desktop winxp installation got seriously corrupt and took the MBR with it as well, so I did a re-install, and went with Ubuntu (an extremely user-friendly linux distro) and I like it.
Last weekend Meredith got a new laptop (due to a financial angel who co-signed for her at compusa) and I got my case back. So now I'm back to my old laptop (which seems so dodgy and worn out compared to Merediths shiny new Toshiba), but I still pine for a 12" Mac. Maybe if I get a raise this month.....
Friday, May 13, 2005
Fargo's big day -from Laurel
fargos big day. one day fargothedog got up in the morning, shedded some on his bed and chewed on his itchy hips and then went for a walk with the big bald weird dogs who fed him. this was the usual morning routine but today the cute brown dog next door and her bald dogs came too. she peed alot and he liked to grin at her and sniff where she peed. then a time of sadness and despair came when they were both tied to a tree while the bald dogs ate good smelling food not far away. but fargo could see them and got some bites of toast and the brown dog amused him by scooting around on the sidewalk on her butt and then turning around and sniffing the sidewalk. she let him sniff the sidewalk, too. it smelled good like her butt. she was very whiny and barked at the baldogs while they were eating but fargo was a gooddog and just bugged his eyes out at them as far as he could to let them know that he could use a little more toast and that his butt itched.
then fargothedog got in the car and sat down on the floorboards and stared at the girl bald dog until they got to the headlands where the bald dogs did all kinds of boring things not involving sticks. but he got to sit in the sun and sniff deer poo and run around and chew on a kong that tasted like boxerdog spit. sometimes they'd throw a stick for him and he'd get very excited and focused. sometimes they yelled at him and made him worried and sad because he wanted to play but apparently they wanted him to lie on a bed that smelled like boxerdog. boring. stinky. boxerdog bed. sometimes he just doesn't understand bald dogs even though his butt goes bald sometimes with how hard he tries to understand. but it was a good time anyway, and he liked to poop in the grass and eat grass and try to get random strangers to play with him. then they went to the beach! just for a little while because it was getting cold, but WOW there were sticks everywhere and sand to run in and even a stinky wet old tennis ball that he could eat sand off of. his feet got a little wet, which he didnt like, and sometimes his ball went in the ocean, which he really didnt like, but then he learned that if he just ran back and forth and kept the water away from his toes sometimes the ball would come back and he could grab it. there was a strange tense moment when a big fuzzy dumb bad dog ran up and jumped on him and tried to bite him but then the bad bald dog with him jumped on the fuzzy bad dog and squashed him and yelled at him and fargo got to just lie there with his good bald dogs and smile and pant and feel smug. while they drove home he licked sand off his face which made him very thirsty and make strange faces. by the time they got home he was tired and a little stiff but this was a very big day because he got to go over to the brown dogs house and play with her toys and her while everyone went to dinner. the bad things were that they didnt bring him any meatloaf and there was a weird scary gray cat staring at him at the brown dogs house but the good thing was that everyone petted him and he got to chew on the brown dogs squeeky ball on the floor until there was a huge puddle of his drool that the brown dog licked up. he slept very well taht night. it was a big day. he even had stinky farts that night. a very good day indeed.
then fargothedog got in the car and sat down on the floorboards and stared at the girl bald dog until they got to the headlands where the bald dogs did all kinds of boring things not involving sticks. but he got to sit in the sun and sniff deer poo and run around and chew on a kong that tasted like boxerdog spit. sometimes they'd throw a stick for him and he'd get very excited and focused. sometimes they yelled at him and made him worried and sad because he wanted to play but apparently they wanted him to lie on a bed that smelled like boxerdog. boring. stinky. boxerdog bed. sometimes he just doesn't understand bald dogs even though his butt goes bald sometimes with how hard he tries to understand. but it was a good time anyway, and he liked to poop in the grass and eat grass and try to get random strangers to play with him. then they went to the beach! just for a little while because it was getting cold, but WOW there were sticks everywhere and sand to run in and even a stinky wet old tennis ball that he could eat sand off of. his feet got a little wet, which he didnt like, and sometimes his ball went in the ocean, which he really didnt like, but then he learned that if he just ran back and forth and kept the water away from his toes sometimes the ball would come back and he could grab it. there was a strange tense moment when a big fuzzy dumb bad dog ran up and jumped on him and tried to bite him but then the bad bald dog with him jumped on the fuzzy bad dog and squashed him and yelled at him and fargo got to just lie there with his good bald dogs and smile and pant and feel smug. while they drove home he licked sand off his face which made him very thirsty and make strange faces. by the time they got home he was tired and a little stiff but this was a very big day because he got to go over to the brown dogs house and play with her toys and her while everyone went to dinner. the bad things were that they didnt bring him any meatloaf and there was a weird scary gray cat staring at him at the brown dogs house but the good thing was that everyone petted him and he got to chew on the brown dogs squeeky ball on the floor until there was a huge puddle of his drool that the brown dog licked up. he slept very well taht night. it was a big day. he even had stinky farts that night. a very good day indeed.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Ho jeeze...
What a couple of days it's been: River cleanup including a dramatic hour of being stuck in the mud with Edith E; a wonderful grand openning of Free Mind's space with food and art. And last but most definately not least: Nomeansno with Polar Bear and the New Trust at the Phoenix last night. Jesus. Nomeansno was my favorite band during the late 80's early 90's. I haven't seen them play since maybe '93. These guys are now in their 50's and they are still louder, faster, and rockiner than almost anybody else I've ever seen (except for maybe Grimple, and Blatz). I'm just going to core-dump my photos and here and sort it all out later...enjoy.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
This weekend!!!
A couple of quick shoutouts:
9 AM - 1 PM: Petaluma River Cleanup! Come help pick up garbage on the luverly P-town Slough. Edith-E in all her rotting, bio-diesel burning glory will be in attendance as the garbage-truck-boat. If you are nice I'll even toot our new air horn! Thanks for the biodiesel Spring & Todd!
6PM: Free Mind, the radical infospace you've all been waiting for is having it's grand opening! Come see Art! Food! Hats! (no promises about the hats) 546 Pacific, Santa Rosa Directions!
9 AM - 1 PM: Petaluma River Cleanup! Come help pick up garbage on the luverly P-town Slough. Edith-E in all her rotting, bio-diesel burning glory will be in attendance as the garbage-truck-boat. If you are nice I'll even toot our new air horn! Thanks for the biodiesel Spring & Todd!
6PM: Free Mind, the radical infospace you've all been waiting for is having it's grand opening! Come see Art! Food! Hats! (no promises about the hats) 546 Pacific, Santa Rosa Directions!
Monday, April 25, 2005
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Walter's Birthday, David's Birthday
Last weekend was a blur of birthday parties. My very tall friend Walter had his party in Noe Valley with an after party in the mission. Lots of B-Man people, and some 'crazy' costumes, and really good steak. I saw a suprising amount of P-town regulars, and got to hang out with Laurel & Andy. Also I saw my dog, which was great as he knocked me down and licked me. Laurel let me play with her powerbook for a bit (I'm thinking of getting one this year) and I think I like it. I haven't used a Mac since the original, but I'm beginning to see the appeal.
The next day while those from Walter's party stayed up all night and went sailing, I went up the mountain to David and Maggies for David's 60th. The house was packed, and there was piles of great food (citrus glazed pork loin, salad, cheeses, breads, mushroom/oil/sundried tomato stuff, roasted red peppers, mmmm...), tea, booze, and lively conversation. Here are the photos...
The next day while those from Walter's party stayed up all night and went sailing, I went up the mountain to David and Maggies for David's 60th. The house was packed, and there was piles of great food (citrus glazed pork loin, salad, cheeses, breads, mushroom/oil/sundried tomato stuff, roasted red peppers, mmmm...), tea, booze, and lively conversation. Here are the photos...
Busy times...
As I look at the calender, I suddenly realize I'm getting all booked up for this month. Upcoming events y'all might be interested in:
Body Worlds 2 in San Francisco Go look
April 16 (DAY): Barrel Tasting at the Crane Melon Barn. The Crane Family began growing grapes a couple of years ago, and their first crop is ready for the drinking. Music, food, booze, what more do you need?
April 16 (Evening): 4 Chicks: Photography by 4 women photographers openning at Boomerang in P-town. Art, Food, Booze....
April 23: Sylvan's Birthday Party, details to follow
April 23: Butter & Eggs Day in P-town, and if you are like me, you get the hell out of dodge. I'll be at Sylvan's anyway.
May 1: May day has got way too much going on. Here's a partial list:
9-3: 11 Annual P-town River Clean Up (yup, Edith and a crew of lackeys will be joining the kayaking hoards to pull crap out of the river)
(12-??) Free Mind Media of Santa Rosa will be having their Grand Openning/Art Show. If you support informed dissent please go and check out what they are doing.
Nomeansno is playing at Slim's that night. I'd go, but they are playing in P-town on the 5th, so I'll see them where I first saw them lo those many years ago.
There is also a green building homes tour over in the east bay, and there should be May Day events in SF, and other places. Check your local listings.
Body Worlds 2 in San Francisco Go look
April 16 (DAY): Barrel Tasting at the Crane Melon Barn. The Crane Family began growing grapes a couple of years ago, and their first crop is ready for the drinking. Music, food, booze, what more do you need?
April 16 (Evening): 4 Chicks: Photography by 4 women photographers openning at Boomerang in P-town. Art, Food, Booze....
April 23: Sylvan's Birthday Party, details to follow
April 23: Butter & Eggs Day in P-town, and if you are like me, you get the hell out of dodge. I'll be at Sylvan's anyway.
May 1: May day has got way too much going on. Here's a partial list:
9-3: 11 Annual P-town River Clean Up (yup, Edith and a crew of lackeys will be joining the kayaking hoards to pull crap out of the river)
(12-??) Free Mind Media of Santa Rosa will be having their Grand Openning/Art Show. If you support informed dissent please go and check out what they are doing.
Nomeansno is playing at Slim's that night. I'd go, but they are playing in P-town on the 5th, so I'll see them where I first saw them lo those many years ago.
There is also a green building homes tour over in the east bay, and there should be May Day events in SF, and other places. Check your local listings.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Spring! Yay!
Spring fever has been hitting me big time. All the birch trees outside my office windows have just leafed out this last week and the green-ness of the green is blinding. I love it. Gary and I have been going on lots of boat trips at lunch. We just got back from a nice one today. It was calm and warm out, lots of good bird sitings, but I don't know my birds (look thats a big one! ooo a small one!). Now I'm back at work which is not quite as nice. Work has been pretty stressful this last week, and I don't see this changing much over the next few months. Sigh. So I've decided to occupy my off-time with things other than work. Here's a list:
Learning AutoCAD
Learning to administer our linux server w/o emailing miles with every question.
Learning to sew properly
Building a hyper-portable, guerilla computer for the revolution.
Fixing my folding bike.
Giving more time to things I like, like FMMG.
Getting my 501 (c) 3 paperwork done.
paying my bills on time.
There's also the standard projects of, getting and keeping my car running, building bookshelves for M and me. Taking more photos, etc...
Learning AutoCAD
Learning to administer our linux server w/o emailing miles with every question.
Learning to sew properly
Building a hyper-portable, guerilla computer for the revolution.
Fixing my folding bike.
Giving more time to things I like, like FMMG.
Getting my 501 (c) 3 paperwork done.
paying my bills on time.
There's also the standard projects of, getting and keeping my car running, building bookshelves for M and me. Taking more photos, etc...
Friday, March 18, 2005
Whooboy...GTD and 43 folders
So I'm jumping on the bandwagon...well maybe not jumping on, but I'm running along side and I'm thinking about jumping. David Allen's Getting Things Done, and 43folders.com has me thinking about restructuring my organizational 'system.' In other words, I will be creating an organizational system from scratch as my current system relies on letting my mail pile up until it falls on the floor at which point I kick it under my desk. M turned me onto the whole 43folders thing a little while ago, but I didn't really check it out at first. Ironically, I was too busy scrambling from one emergency to the next at work. So this week I finally checked it out, and started trying to be more aware of how I organize (or don't) and how I manage my projects. So far the simple suggestions are working well enough to make me want to dive into this more deeply. I'm a little less wary about this method/meme than others because of the popularity among the truly geeky (those who love plaintext and CLI). Most people I've met who fall into the category of the truly geeky tend to eschew complication, and fluff. What I intrinsically like about elements of GTD is that it focuses on how we process information/tasks not what new software will fix it. It seems more process driven than product driven. That being said, many of those (me included) who follow this stuff have a serious office supply fixation, so a little shopping is in order. But! The shopping is for the lo-fi cheapy stuff: 3X5 cards, manila folders, labels. That appeals to the luddite in me..ok I'll stop there.
Bottom line: The process seems to have merit, and I'll let you know how it goes.
Bottom line: The process seems to have merit, and I'll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Solano Co.
I spent the day out in Solano County for work, and lemme tell ya: This is the perfect time of year to go for a hike. Everything is green, and blooming, and pretty. It was warm, but not too hot. I would recommend Rockville Park for some great rock outcrops, and good views.
In boat news: The Edith is back up and running. We got some new structural pieces in, and a temporary fuel tank, so river tours/cleanup will be on for the summer! Yay! This weekend Laurel will be staying up here, and playing in the yard, poking the cat, and making fun of Kirby (who is also putting in a guest appearance). I'm hoping to get both of them out on the boat on Saturday. It should be fun.
In political news this week: Free Mind Media (www.fmmg.org) got a space! I'll steal the paragraph off of the web page that miles put together because it explains them best:
Free Mind Media is a distribution point for radical alternatives to mainstream media and information, and a community center. Our mission is to create a proving ground for radical ideas, and to foster a culture of resistance dedicated to progressive social change. We are very proud to announce the opening of an infospace and radical library in central Santa Rosa. Please come by our space, check it out, and give us a hand getting settled in.
I've been working with them off an on over the last year and a half, and they've achieved their long held goal of getting a space. It'll open sometime near 4/1, and there's plans afoot for a big grand openning art show/snacks/thing on May Day (5/1). They're at 546 Pacific in SR. Check them out.
In boat news: The Edith is back up and running. We got some new structural pieces in, and a temporary fuel tank, so river tours/cleanup will be on for the summer! Yay! This weekend Laurel will be staying up here, and playing in the yard, poking the cat, and making fun of Kirby (who is also putting in a guest appearance). I'm hoping to get both of them out on the boat on Saturday. It should be fun.
In political news this week: Free Mind Media (www.fmmg.org) got a space! I'll steal the paragraph off of the web page that miles put together because it explains them best:
Free Mind Media is a distribution point for radical alternatives to mainstream media and information, and a community center. Our mission is to create a proving ground for radical ideas, and to foster a culture of resistance dedicated to progressive social change. We are very proud to announce the opening of an infospace and radical library in central Santa Rosa. Please come by our space, check it out, and give us a hand getting settled in.
I've been working with them off an on over the last year and a half, and they've achieved their long held goal of getting a space. It'll open sometime near 4/1, and there's plans afoot for a big grand openning art show/snacks/thing on May Day (5/1). They're at 546 Pacific in SR. Check them out.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Pills, Pizza, and Pictures
Last night I went down to SF to hang out with Laurel & Andy. They are under a deadline to produce 3 "pill portraits" for a show in NY by tomorrow. I brought Fargo (who loves the Mission) and some movies. Laurel gave me a showing of pictures from the last few weeks they spent in India, and they were beautiful. Lots of good monkey pictures. Then the four of us went out for pizza, and a digital camera discussion. Then we went back to their apt, and they went back to work and we all watched I <3 Huckabees. It was a nice time, and I hope they have a good show in NY. Good luck!
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Restaurant Review: SEA
Had lunch at a brand new restaurant here in town today. It's called SEA (for South East Asia) and it promised thai food. I was pretty excited to see it go in, because I've gotten completely sick of all the other restaurants within walking distance of my office.
The menu offers a decent variety of appetizers, entrees, and noodles. The lunch menu is limited compared with dinner, but the lunch specials are very well priced. $6.50 will get you a choice of appetizer, a salad, and a choice of entree. I ordered from the non-lunch-special menu because I wanted Pad Thai. Boring yes, but I like to order a standard dish to see how different restaurants compare doing the same dish. So Pad Thai with Prawns, spring roll, and a soda. While waiting for lunch (I didn't have to wait long) I soaked up the atmosphere. The interior is very nicely done with lots of color, plants, and decent chairs. The large windows admit a lot of natural light which is a nice change from the other Thai places in town that seem to shun daylight. The food arrived, and it was good. I'm not sure I've had better Pad Thai. The noodles were a bit mushy perhaps, but they always are. The prawns were properly deveined, a detail that is often overlooked in other restaurants I've eaten at. The carrots and bean sprouts were warm but crunchy, and the flavoring good. It's not spicy Pad Thai, but it was good. The portion was generous, and there were a lot of prawns (not 5 or 6 like in some other restaurants in town). I ate half and still have plenty for dinner, but I tend to eat small portions. Laurel could clean the plate I'm sure. The presentation of my dish, and the others I saw was first rate. The service was excellent, and very interested in what I thought of the food. My server actually said "We are just open, and if there is anything you'd like to suggest we'd love to hear it." I complimented the food and made one suggestion. I wish all places that serve prawns would take the tails off so you can eat them with the dish not pick through and bit/pull them off. He wrote this down and thanked me for coming. I'm definately going to eat there again. I imagine it's not the best thai food around, but it's more than passable, and many of the offerings are unique.
The menu offers a decent variety of appetizers, entrees, and noodles. The lunch menu is limited compared with dinner, but the lunch specials are very well priced. $6.50 will get you a choice of appetizer, a salad, and a choice of entree. I ordered from the non-lunch-special menu because I wanted Pad Thai. Boring yes, but I like to order a standard dish to see how different restaurants compare doing the same dish. So Pad Thai with Prawns, spring roll, and a soda. While waiting for lunch (I didn't have to wait long) I soaked up the atmosphere. The interior is very nicely done with lots of color, plants, and decent chairs. The large windows admit a lot of natural light which is a nice change from the other Thai places in town that seem to shun daylight. The food arrived, and it was good. I'm not sure I've had better Pad Thai. The noodles were a bit mushy perhaps, but they always are. The prawns were properly deveined, a detail that is often overlooked in other restaurants I've eaten at. The carrots and bean sprouts were warm but crunchy, and the flavoring good. It's not spicy Pad Thai, but it was good. The portion was generous, and there were a lot of prawns (not 5 or 6 like in some other restaurants in town). I ate half and still have plenty for dinner, but I tend to eat small portions. Laurel could clean the plate I'm sure. The presentation of my dish, and the others I saw was first rate. The service was excellent, and very interested in what I thought of the food. My server actually said "We are just open, and if there is anything you'd like to suggest we'd love to hear it." I complimented the food and made one suggestion. I wish all places that serve prawns would take the tails off so you can eat them with the dish not pick through and bit/pull them off. He wrote this down and thanked me for coming. I'm definately going to eat there again. I imagine it's not the best thai food around, but it's more than passable, and many of the offerings are unique.
Self improvement....
Ride my bike more
Eat less crap
Take more photos
Print the good ones
Whine less
Keep house cleaner
Take dog for more walks
Go hiking
Go camping
Hang out with my friends
Foster Zen-like patience at work
Get the boat running
Clean up the river
File for non-profit
Start job hunting
Teach Sylvan how to ride his new bike
Bring flowers to Meredith
Travel
Regain focus
Bring pie to Laurel
Update blog more often
Eat less crap
Take more photos
Print the good ones
Whine less
Keep house cleaner
Take dog for more walks
Go hiking
Go camping
Hang out with my friends
Foster Zen-like patience at work
Get the boat running
Clean up the river
File for non-profit
Start job hunting
Teach Sylvan how to ride his new bike
Bring flowers to Meredith
Travel
Regain focus
Bring pie to Laurel
Update blog more often
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Boring old blog = chaotic life
Ok, my health has not been so robust lately so my blog has been suffering. Nothing serious, just that my immune system seems a little rundown so I've been picking up all the availble bugs out there. Thus I miss work, which leads to working long hours (and weekends) in order to catch up, which leads to more sickness. Arg....I had a great combo of food poisioning and flu and heartburn and migrane on Thursday night. It was super. Now it's Saturday and it feels like my body is trying to purge the last of the chemcial cocktail I subjected myself too. But it's beautiful and warm outside...while I type this from my desk at work. Damn.
On the plus side, I got the rims I really wanted for my BMW for cheap. My old rims were beat up and were ugly even when new, so these 'new' (to me) rims make my car look much better. One step closer to making it the car I see in my dreams. Tomorrow I should be picking up some seats which are much nicer than the torn up saggy things that are currently in it. Then with the next paycheck I'll get the brakes sorted which will allow me to drive it again. Yay! I like progress. I like playing with old cars, I don't know why, but I do.
And in boat news: I've decided to try and save the Edith. Gary has moved on to new boat projects, and new boats which will make the workflow/decision making process much easier. One boss, one wallet: Mine. Of course the amount of work needed is a little daunting, but I'm trying to stay the course and fix only what is really necessary while preserving the other bits. Right now I'm getting ready to shore up the back of the cabin where the old fuel tanks were. They were supporting a lot of the scabbed on sections (unintentionally I think) and now they are gone so it's time for new wood! Once I get a new cross-beam in, and the paneling put back on, then I'll reattach the floor for the pilot house and hook up a fuel tank, then she'll be ready for more light outings. At some point I'm hoping to bring her down to San Rafael where I can haul her out and patch up some of the worst of the structural problems and leaks. I may end up berthing her there as well (depending on insurance requirements) for location convenience (close to a shipyard, hardware/lumber stores, the bay, etc).
River cleanup plans are still being made but I've been lagging on the 501 3(c) paperwork. Work has gotten chaotic internally, so I'm trying to polish my resume, and plan for my next step should I decide to move along. Lots to do!
On the plus side, I got the rims I really wanted for my BMW for cheap. My old rims were beat up and were ugly even when new, so these 'new' (to me) rims make my car look much better. One step closer to making it the car I see in my dreams. Tomorrow I should be picking up some seats which are much nicer than the torn up saggy things that are currently in it. Then with the next paycheck I'll get the brakes sorted which will allow me to drive it again. Yay! I like progress. I like playing with old cars, I don't know why, but I do.
And in boat news: I've decided to try and save the Edith. Gary has moved on to new boat projects, and new boats which will make the workflow/decision making process much easier. One boss, one wallet: Mine. Of course the amount of work needed is a little daunting, but I'm trying to stay the course and fix only what is really necessary while preserving the other bits. Right now I'm getting ready to shore up the back of the cabin where the old fuel tanks were. They were supporting a lot of the scabbed on sections (unintentionally I think) and now they are gone so it's time for new wood! Once I get a new cross-beam in, and the paneling put back on, then I'll reattach the floor for the pilot house and hook up a fuel tank, then she'll be ready for more light outings. At some point I'm hoping to bring her down to San Rafael where I can haul her out and patch up some of the worst of the structural problems and leaks. I may end up berthing her there as well (depending on insurance requirements) for location convenience (close to a shipyard, hardware/lumber stores, the bay, etc).
River cleanup plans are still being made but I've been lagging on the 501 3(c) paperwork. Work has gotten chaotic internally, so I'm trying to polish my resume, and plan for my next step should I decide to move along. Lots to do!
Monday, February 28, 2005
Home again, home again...
A good weekend, even with the weather. Laurel and Andy came back from India on Wednesday, and Meredith and I got to see them a bunch this weekend. On friday night there was a closing party for an art show at Atlas Cafe. Laurel got to see how fat our dog got while she was away, and we got to see how skinny they got in India. Must bake them pie. On Saturday I went back down to the city to deliver Laurel's motorcycle and she, Andy and I went and got lunch and chatted about India, work, and their upcoming schedule. Then on Sunday they came up to P-town and we went out to the Tea Room for breakfast and wandered around downtown looking at the Heart on Fire show at Boomerang, and delivering presents from India to Heidi. Then I showed them Edith (who's in the middle of some structural upgrades so she's all torn apart). The rain and cold had gotten to them (they've spent the last 7 months in hot-humid India) so they dropped me off at home and went on their merry way. I went up to Meredith's and we had a nice quiet evening of naps, food, and snoozily watching some TV.
Welcome home Laurel & Andy! It's good to have you back.
Welcome home Laurel & Andy! It's good to have you back.
Friday, February 25, 2005
keyhole....
File this under map-geekery, and cool-tools via the internet. For all of you who have read "Snow Crash" and dreamed about the metaverse tool "Earth" the internet has taken a step closer to that idea. (In the book, "Earth" was a global mapping app that you could use like a desktop globe but all the imagery was near realtime video from satelites). Keyhole (www.keyhole.com) approaches that ideal with a computerized desktop globe app where all the info comes from either Landsat (low-res) or hi-res (1-2ft per pixel) imagery. But what makes it particularly neato, is that you can check out other people's placemarkers which may be there to point out weird patterns in the mohave, or advertise a certain club. The problem is that it costs money, but check out the 7-day trial. It's really cool.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Nice Weekend
After a harrowing week of lung infections, and the worst migrane of my life, Meredith surprised me with a nights stay in the Hotel La Rose. She'd had a hard week as well and decided that what we needed was to get away from our housework, and daily routine to lounge around in bed and watch cable, and take naps. It was exactly what I needed. The hotel is really quite nice. Nice rooms, comfy bed, awesome shower. The decor was a little too grandmotherly, but the view was great. We were in the 'old' building (the big stone one) on the third floor and our room fronted on Railroad Square so we could see A'romas and Flying Goat simulataneously. We indulged in room service for dinner (which was very tasty) and got irate at the lame offerings that TV had for us. Neither of us has cable at home, so we were in for a little bit of culture shock. Did you know that Flava Flave and Brigette Neilsen are dating? And that she calls him "foofy-foof"?! Man it was messed up. I mean, I'm glad they've found happiness and all, but seriously: Foofy-foof?! Arg.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Lungs and bugs
Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been sick with a bacterial lung infection all week. Think of it as pre-pneumonia. On top of that I had the worst migraine of my life for 3.5 days. I got to spend two afternoons in the ER (one for each malady) but the good news is that I'm not dying, and after today I should no longer be contagious.
Of course after all of that, I haven't done a thing towards becoming a non-profit, or fixing Edith, or my car. But I did go to a great art opening at Boomerang in Petaluma. There's some good stuff up (including two of Meredith's pieces, but you can't have them, they sold already) and it's worth checking out.
Of course after all of that, I haven't done a thing towards becoming a non-profit, or fixing Edith, or my car. But I did go to a great art opening at Boomerang in Petaluma. There's some good stuff up (including two of Meredith's pieces, but you can't have them, they sold already) and it's worth checking out.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
the General is the stained one in the middle. The Edith E's cabin roof is shorter than the front of that boat. The good? Almost all the staining is from iron plating on the rub rails, which may mean bronze fastings. the bad? the paint is coming off the bottom and WOULD YOU LOOK AT HOW BIG THAT THING IS?!? Sorry..sorry. I'm better now.
Boat #2 begins to take shape...
Ok, this won't become only an old boat blog, but as you can imagine, I've had boats on my mind nearly non-stop since last weekend when we discovered Edith's terrible secret. To that end, Gary and I went boat shopping today. Let me back up a bit.
We got Edith from Hedley the Wharfinger at Fisherman's Wharf in SF. After last weekend we started negotiotiations with Cap'n Ed down the way on some rancid boats he knew about. That whole scene down river turns out to be the wrong tree to be barking up. Like last time, I started up my zen-like patience and knew that the right boat would fall into our hands, and all the weirdness, and struggle at Ed's were indicative of a bad plan.
So what to do? Call Hedley up of course. He provided for us once (to all our happiness) , why not a second time? And Hedley has a boat for us! Except this time it's a 'vessel'
The H/V General Pershing. It's a 60' wooden offshore trawler (Sardines I think), and it needs a new home. The owner sold off the licence and got the Bay Area Air Quality District to buy him a new $30k motor. And now it's an albatross for him because he can't fish it, and fishermen as a rule don't bother with boats unless they are catching fish. So Hedley said: Come on down, you've got to see it. And today we did.
It's a beast. Beguiling, and dangerously tempting, but a beast. We've decided that two things have to be met before we even begin to think about it seriously: That we have a berth down there at the historic rate ($1 a foot) and that we get a full inspection. Those criteria being met, we move to phase two. Which just might be giant boat ownership. But probably not. Because it's a handful. But it is very soundly built, was fishing commercially as recently as 2002, and starred in the film "Captain Couregeous" which netted Spencer Tracy his second Oscar.
Since we were out and about, we decided to go looking for unloved, unused, free boats. We visited several marinas in Marin, and Sonoma County almost without luck, until we stopped by one of my favorites: San Rafael harbor. This place has the requisite 'beat-up pickup to uv-damaged-blue-tarp' ratio that we need for our kind of boat. We poked around and talked to the harbor master who showed us a very nice (theoretically) 27' sailboat for far under it's open market asking price. Gary might bite the bullet on that one and become his nemisis: a sailor. I'm tempted, but I prefer to maintain the ethic of getting these things for free. After talking to the harbor master again and explaining that really what we wanted was something to clean water ways up with, he was impressed and took up to see what I dearly hope will become boat #2. It's a 26' ex-coast guard surf boat. 26' is key for insurance reasons, and ex-surf boat means (and I have done the research to back this up) nearly impossible to sink. Also, good load carrying and stoutly built. Above is a picture of a nearly identical surf boat that was tied up in sausalito. "Ours" is not in such good shape (needs paint and an engine), but the harbor master was more than happy to let up work on it at the yard there because of our altruistic goal. Sweet. Now we just have to convince the owner that he needs to give it to us (which is very possible according to the harbor master). I'll keep you all posted.
PS. If I become the hapless owner of the General Pershing, you'll understand why I'm always filthy and smell like diesel right?
We got Edith from Hedley the Wharfinger at Fisherman's Wharf in SF. After last weekend we started negotiotiations with Cap'n Ed down the way on some rancid boats he knew about. That whole scene down river turns out to be the wrong tree to be barking up. Like last time, I started up my zen-like patience and knew that the right boat would fall into our hands, and all the weirdness, and struggle at Ed's were indicative of a bad plan.
So what to do? Call Hedley up of course. He provided for us once (to all our happiness) , why not a second time? And Hedley has a boat for us! Except this time it's a 'vessel'
The H/V General Pershing. It's a 60' wooden offshore trawler (Sardines I think), and it needs a new home. The owner sold off the licence and got the Bay Area Air Quality District to buy him a new $30k motor. And now it's an albatross for him because he can't fish it, and fishermen as a rule don't bother with boats unless they are catching fish. So Hedley said: Come on down, you've got to see it. And today we did.
It's a beast. Beguiling, and dangerously tempting, but a beast. We've decided that two things have to be met before we even begin to think about it seriously: That we have a berth down there at the historic rate ($1 a foot) and that we get a full inspection. Those criteria being met, we move to phase two. Which just might be giant boat ownership. But probably not. Because it's a handful. But it is very soundly built, was fishing commercially as recently as 2002, and starred in the film "Captain Couregeous" which netted Spencer Tracy his second Oscar.
Since we were out and about, we decided to go looking for unloved, unused, free boats. We visited several marinas in Marin, and Sonoma County almost without luck, until we stopped by one of my favorites: San Rafael harbor. This place has the requisite 'beat-up pickup to uv-damaged-blue-tarp' ratio that we need for our kind of boat. We poked around and talked to the harbor master who showed us a very nice (theoretically) 27' sailboat for far under it's open market asking price. Gary might bite the bullet on that one and become his nemisis: a sailor. I'm tempted, but I prefer to maintain the ethic of getting these things for free. After talking to the harbor master again and explaining that really what we wanted was something to clean water ways up with, he was impressed and took up to see what I dearly hope will become boat #2. It's a 26' ex-coast guard surf boat. 26' is key for insurance reasons, and ex-surf boat means (and I have done the research to back this up) nearly impossible to sink. Also, good load carrying and stoutly built. Above is a picture of a nearly identical surf boat that was tied up in sausalito. "Ours" is not in such good shape (needs paint and an engine), but the harbor master was more than happy to let up work on it at the yard there because of our altruistic goal. Sweet. Now we just have to convince the owner that he needs to give it to us (which is very possible according to the harbor master). I'll keep you all posted.
PS. If I become the hapless owner of the General Pershing, you'll understand why I'm always filthy and smell like diesel right?
Monday, January 31, 2005
Boat #2
With the eminent demise of the Edith E, we've begun looking for boat #2. We have one likely candidate that is local and the price may be right. Since the river clean-up project is progressing, we are thinking of forming a 501 (c)(3) to handle donations, limit liability etc..So if anyone knows this stuff (miles?) I'd like to buy you lunch and pick your brain. The non-profit name so far is "Bay Area River Cleanup" or...BARC
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