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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Friday, August 30, 2002

Self-Promotion Is Hereditary.

My mother (who reads my Weblog; wave hello, everybody!) is totally tech-savvy. She codes Web sites and fixes her friends' computers. We usually keep up, neck and neck, trying out new software and gadgets and such. But this time she's completely trumped me by launching her own Cafepress store to go with her site about women with the 1465th most common female first name in the US. (One of my frustrations as a child was never finding those mini-license plates or other junky souvenirs with my name preprinted on them, so I can relate.)

On the other hand, I do come up number four in a Google search for "linkwhore" (just two below Chris.) Is that bad?

04:26 PM PST (link)

Thursday, August 29, 2002

Don't Obfuscate Your Theses With Extraneous Verbiage.

From a document I'm working in: "To execute a loadmovie, implement a function call to _level99 with the appropriate event number." Do what now?

While coding complex HTML pages can be kind of fun for a change, it gets to be kind of a drag when I do it all day long. And then, when the pages themselves are filled with thick jargon, it's like working with two (or more) layers of code to decipher. Yes, I know: real programmers don't read the copy. I'm just want to make sure I'm not coding my own little Web page from Hell.

04:10 PM PST (link)

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Cosmo Quiz Conflict!

Wait, how can I be a controlling bitch (via Kris) and still have the disease to please at the same time?

Don't answer that.

10:37 PM PST (link)

Monday, August 26, 2002

Dining With The Stars.

Friday for lunch we took a coworker out to The Slanted Door. I'd never been before: it's very tasty vietnamese food, and even though their space on the Embarcadero is only temporary, it's quite nice inside. As soon as we walked in, we saw people with Food Network cameras. Somebody immediately joked, "Bam! Kick it up a notch!" Then we looked over and saw Emeril, who was indeed filming (and eating) there.

I love this quote: "As he wanders among passers-by on the Embarcadero he's followed by a pair of dark-sunglasses-and-trenchcoat security types who look like they strayed from President Bush's entourage in Stockton. " Um, no. Actually they looked more like rejected extras from The Sopranos. When they asked us not to take any more pictures, we put away our cameras before they took us out back to "discuss today's menu"—I hear Special number 38 is very popular..."Bam!"

Funny to see different people's reactions to celebrity; one person was loud and excited, "Really? Where? Where?" Another rushed nearby with a camera. Me? I'm pretty even-headed around famous people unless I'm a big fan, in which case I'm as star-struck as the next person. (You should have seen me when I met Tori Amos—I was a total goober.) Turns out Joe Montana and his wife were eating lunch there too. Celebrity lunch hour, I guess.

Today I'm going to the star-studded Lee's Deli. I only have one street to cross, so hopefully I won't get hit by a vehicle on my way.

01:59 PM PST (link)

Did Anybody Get That License?

I think my day started going downhill about the time I got hit by the truck.

Truth be told, it didn't really hit me so much as brush up against me. The grand total of damage to my person is one button off the sleeve of my trenchcoat. But had I not taken a fast step backwards, I would have been under the back wheel as he made a very sharp right turn up and over the curb. Yes, I was on the sidewalk when it happened.

I realized that I will likely be completely useless in any emergency. As I stood there, stunned, trying to figure out what happened, the truck slowed long enough for me to see the license plate and what company they were from. But my brain wouldn't focus on even the big words. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that the truck was pretty dirty, as my cuff will attest. No, the truck never actually stopped. I don't know if the driver even knew anything happened.

Of course, since I wasn't injured the police wouldn't even bother to take a report, so it doesn't really matter. It's not until now with a little more coffee in me that I'm getting angry and thinking about pedestrian rights in our Crazy Taxi city.

So please, whether you walk or drive, be careful. It's crazy out there.

12:38 AM PST (link)