Ultramundane.com -- It's Just Not Natural.

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United States, California, San Francisco, The Mission, English, Spanish, Casey, Male, 31-35.

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Saturday, May 19, 2001

For (y)our convenience...

I only have two credit cards. Both of them sent me new cards today. What, it's new plastic day? So I get to spend a little time on the phone activating them, i.e., listening to their sales pitches for purchase protection and balance transfers. For my protection. Of course, I'm a bad American and have no outstanding credit card debt. So some other American has two more cards and is in $11,600 worth of debt to cover for me. Thank you, whomever you are.

Of course, one of the credit cards (from a bank who shall remain nameless, but whose initials are Capital One) informed me that because I was a "valued" customer, that they'd issued the new card with a new number on it. So I can correct any automatic payment systems I've set up. Convenience? (Sniff.)

04:20 PM PST (link)

End of Data.

Bye-Bye, Greg. Bye-Bye.

12:27 AM PST (link)

Friday, May 18, 2001

Another Rockin' Friday Night!!!

So...make a to-do list, or play the Sims? Decisions, decisions....No, I ended up chatting with the Boyfriend tonight on the phone about rollercoasters and am about to log off to play the demo of Theme Park World. Because I can.

10:21 PM PST (link)

Should I be scared?

Here's something to do Saturday night. The Second Annual Bohemian Arts Ball at Jezebel's Joint (coincidentally the new location for the local goth club Shrine of Lilith.) Friends of mine who do some odd television will be performing/appearing there. It's at Larkin and Turk, one of the more...colorful neighborhoods late at night. Cabs stop there, don't they?

All this club talk...you'd think I actually leave the house, wouldn't you? Well, gods bless my friend Aaron for continuing to invite me to things even though I never show up at them. One of these times I'll surprise him....

03:06 PM PST (link)

Pink Slip Party.

Whoops. It appears that I've moved my car in the nick of time. They sure do go crazy with the chalk markings to make sure you've moved your car.

It's only been recently that the houses on my side of the street have been eligible for "letter" parking -- that is, a neighborhood permit for extended parking on, say, the street next to my house. Well, I had found the Holy Grail of parking -- an alley nearby with letter parking which doesn't have street cleaning. I actually said things like "I'd like to go [somewhere] but I'll lose my parking space." I'm definitely a real San Franciscan now. Well, all good things must come to an end...

01:46 PM PST (link)

#13: Don't lose your sources.

I've been talking with someone about weblogs/personal publishing. But Melanie has her finger on the twelve things they don't tell you when you start a weblog. Regrettably, I forget the site I found the link at. Bad me.

12:35 AM PST (link)

Thursday, May 17, 2001

Mediocre Vibrations.

Bizarre. I keep my Blackberry pager in my left front pocket; I use silent (vibration) mode and I get a lot of mail, so it goes off a lot. (No, this post isn't going in that direction, honest.) But I often get the sensation that it's going off, vibrating against my leg when it's not. Sometimes when it's not even in my pocket, I'll get that same feeling on my outer thigh. I'll even feel them at night in bed. Does anyone else who carries a vibrating pager ever feel these "Phantom Pages"?

03:18 PM PST (link)

Comic Coincidence.

Interesting. I've been reading Scott McCloud's Redefining Comics lately, in which he talks a lot about the mechanics and history of the modern US comics industry. Interesting reading. Then I saw at memepool that Marvel Comics has ended its relationship with the Comic Code Authority, the fifty-year-old organization that marks comics as "safe" for children (but also "sanitized" for adults.) I'm not necessarily against warning labels for adult content, which is where Marvel appears to be heading. Historically, non-CCA-approved comics have had a much harder time getting on retailers shelves. So this is a big move in the direction of opening up retailer's shelves for more sophisticated sequential art/graphic novels. Get more info at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Oh, and something about some Wolverine guy. I dunno; I was never big into superhero comics, myself.

11:34 AM PST (link)

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

The tendency for tenants is tenacity.

I'm in a quandry about limiting and restricting Tenancies In Common (TIC) purchases. I mean, as a renter I agree: being evicted sucks, and for the elderly or the seriously ill its especially difficult. I even voted for Chris Daly. From that perspective a TIC is a multiple owner-move-in eviction. And it does take rental properties off the market; I can't deny that.

At the same time, people do live in these spaces: The Boyfriend bought his flat through a TIC. Nearly six years later (and this is relatively quickly) they're finally approved to convert to condominium status. Up until last year all the partners still lived in their units. Someday I may want to buy a home of my own; this may be the only way I'll be able to do so soon if I want to stay in San Francisco. Self-serving? Perhaps. "'Do we cannibalize some tenants so a select group of tenants can achieve the American dream?' Daly asked." Do we also want to keep more San Franciscans in the financial rental trap when they have a chance to escape it and still live here and contribute to their neighborhood? A quandry. Maybe Daly's plan, to limit the number of TICs, is a fair middle ground.

Of course, when in doubt, blame God. And I forget why I love this City sometimes...

11:06 AM PST (link)

Monday, May 14, 2001

Phew!

I've returned from the County of Orange a smellier man than I left. I don't care how well they say they recirculate air, there's no way to escape when the woman next to you on the plane sprays herself with perfume. This is the same woman who asked for extra nuts. I didn't even laugh.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go burn my clothes.

11:19 PM PST (link)

Sunday, May 13, 2001

So shiny! And so sticky!

Sometimes I wish I'd have gone to my senior prom, because I know now exactly what I would have worn.

Found because the nice people at Duck Brand Bubble Wrap sponsored the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, with the smart people at the Annals of Improbable Research.

06:42 PM PST (link)

Dessert Sushi?

I'm going slightly mad trying to find the recipe I saw for mock sushi dessert once; they were a rolled dessert that looked exactly like the real thing; I thought they were coconut with a chocolate coating in place of the seaweed. I've got some leads on alternate ingredients, but the more complete recipes I've seen have seemed a little too childish. I'll have to experiment, I'm sure to the chagrin of the Roommate and Boyfriend.

Alternately, just imagine the looks on your guests' faces when you whip this out after dinner!

02:07 PM PST (link)

Numbers racket.

Isn't it just my luck? My number comes up when there's no counter contest? Well, no matter. Enter early and enter often, children.

UPDATE: What do you mean, I won? Yeehaw!

01:53 PM PST (link)