I came across an online posting today from one of my English classes at Vassar. I'm still not sure what I was talking about or what kind of crack I was smoking...but I'm sure I was going on not very much sleep...or smoking the crack of Blake.
Here's another funny blurb I wrote back in 1997.
Gabe Anderson // 9:44 AM
It's been a long day. It was up at 630 and out the door by 730 to take Jen's car to Mark Morris Tire for an oil change and check-up. It needed signal and brake work. Then it was off to recover what I could of the Spikes Spider wheel mount from the SF Auto Auction, which now has the Saturn. I only got the metal mounting bracket, and not the special lugnuts. Oh well...gotta cut my losses.
Here's a depressing look at the future of our country and our economy..preparing for the 100-year bear market.
And now, with less than an hour until midnight, I will try to watch what I can of Vanilla Sky before heading to bed and having to return it tomorrow.
Gabe Anderson // 11:09 PM
Yesterday on our way to Stonestown Galleria, Jen and I stopped in the Mission, planning to grab a burrito at a tacqueria I had been once before. We found a pretty decent spot and started to walk the several blocks to the food. About halfway there, we saw a crowd of nervous-looking people staring into a side street. Then we saw a bald man, fresh blood pouring from his head, wildly waving a squeegee in the air as he hopelessly pounded it against his attacker. I could not tell what the other man in the squabble used to bloody the bald man, but there was a third man with a hook for one hand hovering around the vicinity. The strange and stressful scene broke apart soon thereafter. Gotta love city life... We reached the burrito joint several minutes later. It was not the one I had been thinking of. There were several flies hanging out. So we did not.
This afternoon I stopped at Costco in Point Richmond on my way home from work. As I carried a double-case of Corona from the beer section back to my shopping cart, I stared up at the tremendous volume of goods stacked high above my head, clear to the ceiling of the huge warehouse. I honed in on the super mega-packs of Diet Pepsi and over-sized bags of Kingsford Charcoal and thought, "Wow. If there were a bad earthquake right now, I could be crushed by cans of sugar water and small black firestarters."
The remains of Chandra Levy, Gary Condit's Congressional intern who disappeared before September 11 but who became old news that fateful Tuesday morning, were found today in Washington Park. This is quite sad. I am sure, though, that the family is relieved, as they can finally begin to mourn.
Gabe Anderson // 8:09 PM
Scientists in northern England discovered the skeleton of an ancient Roman transvestite in 1981. Not until today, however, did they announce their conclusion regarding the young priest's castrated state. Apparently it took great scientific minds 21 years to figure out that man's desire to be feminine and wear women's clothing is not just a modern phenomenon. Had they spent more time at AsiaSF, they would have quickly observed how natural some men look as women -- clearly a development that began thousands of years ago, not just in recent history.
My hometown Sacramento Kings tied the NBA Western Conference Championship against the LA Lakers last night at 1-1. Go Kings! Put Sacramento on the map.
Over the weekend, following new threats of terror against the United States, our government engaged in "intelligence fusion efforts between the FBI and the CIA," according to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Roughly translated, that means for the first time ever, the FBI and the CIA shared information. What?? Sometimes I feel a great sense of pride in this country. Others, I am simply befuddled by the ridiculous level of bureaucracy that clearly exists at every level of government. Two intelligence agencies -- supposedly under the same higher-level leadership -- have never collaborated in efforts to learn about terrorism and potential threats? Who knows what else they've never compared notes about? Probably lots.
Still, the warnings this time are both more specific and more vague. Warning notices are being posted at apartment complexes around the country, including here in the Bay Area. Yet the government supposedly does not know when the next act of terror may strike. It "could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, it could happen next year," said Vice President Dick Cheney. Gee, thanks. I could've told you that. Even if the government does has specifics, is it really in anyone's best interest to detail exactly what, when, and where the next act will occur? Would it really do anything but create mass hysteria similar to that we've witnessed in movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact? Probably not. It may be in everyone's best interest not to know. Whether it's to occur by terrorism or not, I certainly don't want to know when I'm going to die. I enjoy the mystery. I enjoy living life without looking to a dark fate.
Last night was the series finale of The X-Files. Following its 9-year run on FOX, it's hard to believe the show is finally no more. I'll miss that Sunday-night ritual. At least there are always re-runs.
Yesterday I spoke with my sales guy, Andrew, at Bianco Subaru in Corte Madera. He actually had the audacity to insinuate that it was my fault that my titanium shift knob has come loose in my car for the second time -- that maybe it was the way I drive. Alas, what more should one expect from a kid salesman whose daddy owns the place? I later called him back to inform him that that was a very unprofessional thing to say and that it demonstrated incredibly poor customer service. He apologized, which was what I was after.
Gabe Anderson // 9:00 AM
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Sunday, May 19, 2002:
This morning I woke with a jolt just before 8am in preparation for today's Bay to Breakers race, the longest and oldest footrace in America. Jen and I had plans to go with some friends, as we have the last two years, but it turns out that no one was really feeling up to it. Good thing, too, as it began to pour pretty hard just before 9am this morning. The rain was the perfect excuse all of us had been looking for. So it's a rainy day at home on TI...I may go bowling with my Dad this afternoon. The one year that we planned well for Bay to Breakers -- by driving Jen's car out to Ocean Beach last night (where the race ends) -- is the one year we end up not going! (It's always a pain in the ass to get all the way home from the ocean...the other 60,000 people are always in the same boat, too.)
This metal shift lever may solve the annoying problem I've been having with my titanium shift knob continuously coming loose as I shift, despite already having been replaced once by the dealer, two days after I drove my car off the lot.
According to today's Sunday Chronicle, San Francisco is "dead last" on a list of 20 major cities around the country in terms of solving violent crimes. With only 28% of violent crimes solved between 1996 and 2000, the department claims its emphasis is on crime prevention, rather than on solving crime. The department's chief, Fred Lau, claims he didn't know his detectives weren't solving crimes. I see his career with the SFPD being cut very short. Any boss who does not know what his employees are doing is not doing his job.
Gabe Anderson // 9:54 AM
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Saturday, May 18, 2002:
Last night Jen and I saw Episode II with Ben and Jess at AMC Van Ness. It rocked! Seeing Yoda do battle was definitely one of the coolest parts of the film. He's like Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid series: Old, wise, and calm most of the time, but willing to kick ass when necessary. Following the movie, we swung by Tommy's Joynt across the street for drinks. Although it's supposedly where Metallica hangs out, they weren't around last night...
On the car front, I still need to decide if/how I'm going to fix my chipped wheel. This metallic cement stuff is one option.
If only cats could be drafted into Major League Baseball...
The Capital Christian Center in Sacramento is absolutely ridiculous. I remember back in 1995 when they weren't going to let an eighth-grader give a graduation speech because his hair was too short...now they've expelled a kindergartner because her mom's a stripper at Gold Club Centerfolds. Big deal. She's doing what she can to earn a living to support her daughter and pay for her to get a good education (at a school whose tuition is surely a rip-off). That's what's most important. Not the backwards ideals of this fundamentalist institution. As the stripper mom pointed out, her daughter's the one enrolled at the school, not her.
Gabe Anderson // 1:43 PM
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Following yesterday's announcement of Autodesk's Q1 FY2003 earnings, I paced nervously around my house (I was working at home all afternoon), contemplating what it's like to work for a public company for the first time. It's certainly refreshing to get the real story. After working only at startups Headlight.com and Financial Finesse since 1999, I was used to being fed bullshit -- or, at least, sugar-coated truths -- about what was really happening with the organization. Of course, Headlight went the way of most dot-coms on March 15, 2001, and although Financial Finesse is still huffing along, there's no way to really know what's going on with the company's financials. Enter Autodesk and my career that began here March 18, 2002. Although yesterday's announcement of drastically missed revenue goals was quite scary -- and a sign of these rough economic times hitting home -- it was good to know the real story. I know I will always have the same story that everyone else does. And that's important.
Yesterday afternoon I said goodbye to my Saturn, which I had bought in 1999 from my late grandmother, Ruth Pritchard. I gave the car to the Cancer Research Institute, which searches for cures to cancer within the body's own immune system. Nana died of lung cancer, so giving her car to an organization that fights the cause was a fitting end for the car. With 134,222 miles on the odometer and a transmission on its way out, it was time to let it go.
While driving to work this morning, I heard a perspective on NPR from a teenage girl who attended the funeral of a friend who was killed in gang violence May 4 in Oakland. Lamar Brown, 19, is the latest tragic example of our deteriorating society. It's scary that just across the Bay is a place so violent that it's on track to reach 100 homicides this year. And the kids being killed keep getting younger. The world is a scary place. And full of such paradoxes where the rich get richer and in a community so geographically small as the Bay Area, we see a place at one end of the violence and economic spectrum just 21.9 miles from San Rafael, Marin County -- the richest and probably safest county in America. I guess I'm lucky to work here, but sometimes feel guilty about it, knowing what it's like a short trip across the Bay.
Gabe Anderson // 9:26 AM
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Thursday, May 16, 2002:
Yesterday I read in Google's latest newsletter about some of the new APIs developed by programmers around the world. Probably the coolest one I've seen so far is the Google Smackdown, which puts one word up against another in a battle of frequency. How it works? Simple. It scans the Google database/the Web for the number of times each word appears, then displays the results. It's pretty cool. And some words are more popular than you might think.
Last night Jen and I finished watching Star Wars: Episode I in preparation for this week's opening of Episode II (well, it's already in theaters as of midnight last night/this morning). Neither of us had seen Episode I since it was out in theaters, and we had forgotten most of it. It certainly got me psyched for the new movie, which hopefully we'll see at AMC Van Ness, the only theater in the Bay Area with digital projection.
This morning I had to wake up at 5:30 to be here at work for a 7:30 meeting. Gotta run to that now.
Gabe Anderson // 7:25 AM
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Wednesday, May 15, 2002:
Last evening I read Steven Levy's Newsweek article, Will Blogs Kill Old Media? In it, Levy discusses some bet between blogger Dave Winer, who claims that by 2007 most people will get their news from blogs rather than from The New York Times, and Martin Nisenholtz, who runs the Times' digital operations. Levy sides with Nisenholtz. Of course he should. I do, too. The simple oversight by Winer is that blogging is about commentary by individuals who usually refer to the established media. In other words, bloggers don't report the news; they comment on (and link to) the stories written by those who actually report the news (in established publications). As much as I love technology, the Big Media aren't going away (and I would never want them to). I did, after all, read Levy's article in the print version of Newsweek that's delivered to my home every week. I like being able to hang out in the kitchen with Jen and read, not be tied to a computer screen to get my news about the world.
Yesterday I subscribed to a popular WRX email group based in Australia. Having seen thousands of archived messages per month, I was at first surprised by the lack of activity. Around 9pm Pacific Time last night, though, a sudden flurry of postings began. And it quickly occurred to me that in Australia, the U.S. day is night. I posted a question about my chipped wheel and am relieved to have been informed about this metallic cement product. Ahhh...
The mold debate that I started on the Treasure Island message board continues to flourish. I hope to soon leave the island, as I'm tired of my health suffering because of the toxic mold.
I also long for another vacation to Italy. Already. Life is beautiful there.
Gabe Anderson // 8:21 AM
E-Learning Struggles To Make The Grade The industry I call home has always been ahead of its time. No wonder I'm so drawn to it. No one understands what the hell it's all about.
Last night the Bay Area was rocked by a 5.2 earthquake, the biggest one to hit the area in two years. I was at home about to watch Six Feet Under. Having consumed a bit of wine and staring at the plant atop one of my speakers, I saw the plant rocking back and forth. My immediate thought was, "Cool. We're having an earthquake." But as with most earthquakes, it never really registers right away. Then the phone rang. I knew before I answered that it was my Dad calling from across the Bay in Emeryville. In that split second prior to answering, I also knew that my suspicion of the earth's current shaking was correct. My Dad is an earthquake hound dog, always on alert for the latest tremor.
Yesterday as I pulled out of a parking spot at work, I kicked myself as my wheel hit the curb. Doh! The first chipped-off piece of the wheel of my new WRX. Barely visible to the naked eye, it's knowing it's there that gets to me. Time to order some touch-up paint.
Sunday was a chill day around the house. Jen and I did a lot of cleaning. I prepared the Saturn for its Thursday donation to the Cancer Research Institute. I could only remove one of the two Spikes Spiders mounts from the front wheels. I'll have to enlist the help of the tow truck driver on Thursday to remove the other.
Saturday was a big day for Jen and me. We returned to Brand X Antiques in the Castro to visit the engagement ring that we had first seen the weekend before. Jen knew that it was the one. Now it has a permanent home on her hand. We also broke down and bought a brand-spankin' new queen-sized bed from Sleep Train. Well, Jen bought it. And I'm damn glad about it. It's incredibly comfortable.
Gabe Anderson // 9:32 AM
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This isn't necessarily the end of the postings for this month! Refer to the archives for more.
