Sour Particles

First off, I have been known to like candy. Second off, Starburst is totally an awesome name for a candy. But I must say this, I tend to favor Mamba over Starburst. Still I never turn down Starburst... ...unless it is yellow. And I know I'm not alone on this, nobody seems to like yellow Starbursts, I don't mind yellow Mamba. But for some reason yellow Starbursts, no matter if they are lemon, pineapple or whatever, never get my approval. I've always been partial to the pink, which in my opion has the best flavors.

Two and half hours, about a quarter done.

At least I feel that way with these jumbo Smarties!

The first exercise in ages, ten kilometers at a mile above sea-level. Dirt trail with some hills, as you can see from the elevation profile to the top left corner of the photo. Maximum elevation is 5500 feet, and the minimum is right around 5250 feet. My time last week was pathetic, but I was happy, fresh air and relaxing. Then decided instead of once a week, why not twice. Wednesday I lost six minutes, even more pathetic. But I feel redeemed now because I shaved nine minutes off my first time (15 less than last time) and that means there is hope. Stay posted for an overly dramatic webpage with performance / heartrate / bodyweight / etc graphs, gps tracklogs on maps and maybe some conclusions on my get in shape in 10 weeks or less experiment.

Done walking for the day, walked over 10 miles. Started in downtown San Francisco where we saw some protesters laying in the street get zip tied and put in vans by Police in riot gear. I got the feeling the most of protesters were really fake, the kind of people who just like attention and acting. Well the ones who covered themselves in fake blood and were running around and screaming at least. Protesting seems pretty trendy. I wonder how many of them (the ones who were being really dramatic, not the ones chanting and holding up signs off of the road) got are failed actors / actresses. Honestly I would be much more affected by photographs that a lady running around and screaming about something horrible happening to her. I actually do not even know what she was trying to convey with it. Was she supposed to be an Iraqi woman? It didn't seem like she was supposed to be a solider's mother. She was calling out to Americans for help, did she want American citizens to pull out our troops because they are the ones who attacked her? The signs said impeech Bush, pull our troops out. Maybe I am just really stupid and everyone else who looked confused around her really understood what she was supposed to represent. Word to anyone who wants to protest, I'm open minded but stop the horrible acting and make sure your message is clear and not a confusing drama class gone bad soap opera. Anyways, next we walked down to the curvy Lomard street via Union square and some really big church.. Then to the warf for a beer and snack. And ofcourse we needed some sweets, ice cream, chocolate, etc. Then the almost final leg was all the way to the vista point on northern side of the Golden Gate bridge about six more miles. And then back across the bridge, it was dark by then so taxi to the BART station. Never a dull moment.

Small part of the fire on the side of the road before you get in to the thick smoke. Now for some lunch.

Glad nobody invited Tequila to the party.

On my way home, changed my departure airport three times this trip, but I'm stuck with this one since I'm on the plane now. I'm inside a flying basketball, Slam Dunk One.

Arthur Schopenhauer is the topic of discussion today, since this is the only day I'm going to be here in the class, I don't know if its all this interesting. But I found today's lecture to be very stimulating. This is my idea of a good vacation. I even raised my hand and contributed to the discussion, more than the person whose guest in the class I am. Pessimism and and suffering are great topic to discuss. Oh, and I took the bus to get here, maybe sometime soon I will take the bus all by myself. And can't forget I went to the gym this morning, didn't exercise but I got a smoothie while I waited.

The house lager was pretty large and pretty toxic. The last shoreboat on Thursdays is at 9:45pm, so if you don't have a dingy at the pier or the others in your party took it earlier, you have to make it back by then or find someone to take you or swim out.

Got a bit too much sun this weekend, so it was time to break out the Solarcaine. I'm not sure if it is clinically proven to do anything, but for years it has done what aloe alone never did. I think it is time to start using sunscreen better, usually if I put it on, I put it on too late. Crazy weekend, if you weren't in it, you missed out.

What is intelligence? Is there any artificial intelligence yet? Will there ever be artificial intelligence? Is there even natural intelligence? Am I intelligent? Sometimes you can get wrapped up in those kind of questions. I don't think everyone who reads this would answer all the questions identically. Does that mean some people are wrong? Are those people unintelligent?

I used to be a dog only kind of person, but a few kittens have changed my mind. This one always makes me feel better when I'm down. He is my little baby, and he has been there for me through some rough times, even without needing to coax him with treats. I won't forget the day he came here, the day he got his name, or any other day that he has been in my life. Everyday that you spend with the people you care about is special, and even when you're not with them, they still make life worth living. Oh there was the day he was freaking out at the mouse in the bathtub and the day I took him for his first swim in the pool. Even though he won't ever live with me, he will always live in my heart. I love you Butters. Now that I have that off my chest I feel a lot better, he was guilt tripping me with meows.

There were some taxidermy birds covered in wax in one exhibit. It looked kind of odd. Then by the same person, there was some stuff made out of hair, again kind of odd. Then there was some stuff by Andy Warhol, interesting and fun to look at. And then there was some robot exhibit, nothing seemed special in there, it wasn't interesting at all except the balloon floating thing that had no real description of what it did. The 3D computer thing was nothing special, and was pretty boring. Sushi place for lunch was pretty good though, I didn't get my miso soup though. By the way, my room is still clean, I did all the regular upkeep this weekend besides vacuuming, because I couldn't find the vacuum. Back to art, I don't hate all contemporary art, but there is a point when people see something in a piece just because the name or description next to it implies it, I like art that actually speaks for itself and doesn't let the plaque next to it do all the talking. Maybe one day I will get one of my paint by numbers in to a museum.

This is actually the same bar so I was kind of lying, but I'm going to collect all of their stamps though. The weekend has started, and it is a good start. Got big plans for the weekend. If I can remember what those plans are tomorrow then it should be a fun weekend.

Okay this might not look like anything, but it is actually a porcupine that was in the street in front of our house. I got out of the car to take this photo with my phone, it is a pretty horrible photo but I just have to say that thing was a lot bigger than I expected. It was also really slow too. It didn't seem too smart, but I guess you don't need to be when you have all those sharp barbed quils.

This is ghetto but temporary. I think that for the most part we engineered it pretty well though.

But it is just a game, and if you don't realize it's a game and you take it too seriously then you probably are compensating for something.

I don't think anyone will figure out on their own what this photo is. But that doesn't matter because I know, and knowing is half the battle, or so I was taught when I was younger by cartoons. It's kind of hard for me to come to terms with how much has happened since then, since I was what I now consider as "young," check back in twenty years for a post referring to myself as young currently. Anyways, the TV had a dial, VCRs and stereos ate your favorite tapes for lunch, and nothing besides how the answering machine you just took apart worked internally was complicated. Or maybe that's an over simplification of it. But it sure feels that way sometimes.

The copyright on the Atari cartridge is 1978 (pre-me), and 1989 on the original Gameboy. I used to look to the Dial-A-Pirate for guidance in my early years. I didn't want to pull out the wood grain Atari 2600 or the copy of Gato (Spectrum HoloByte) copyrighted 1983.

I sped up the process, set the starting point to be slightly before an image of Butters that was converted to 64x64 8-bit grayscale. But I think it demonstrates the possibilities that even a small colorless image can have. The downside is that it still is a huge amount of possibilities to have a human check each frame. Finding a way to fast forward only enough that it doesn't skip potential images but also helps us make it to those images in the first place is what needs to be researched next. Oh well, it was just my project for the evening, it will wait, until the next time I'm bored. If you want to help contribute by checking images, here is the link.

I thought the loaded fries (ranch, cheese, bacon) was going to be the highlight. Turns out it was a toilet seat cover that followed someone out of the bathroom, through a limo and beyond.

Every year as you get older Thanksgiving activities get more confusing. When you're old enough to understand the concept of time, thats when it first starts to get really confusing, what time does the turkey start, when do we eat, I thought we were going to eat three hours ago. When you change venues for Thanksgiving, confusion. Then when there are multiple possible places for you to go on Thanksgiving, more confusion. When the food is something other than the same thing you've had for the past decade or more, confusion. And you get the point. Oh and you should donate some blood.

My room is still a complete mess. In fact it is pretty much a lost cause, but you know me, I love lost causes. After my fairly probable crappy morning, I will start the relief effort.

Each year it seems like stores put up the stuff for each holiday earlier and earlier. I know I'm not the first person to think this, but I thought I would say it anyways. Pretty soon the start of a holiday in stores will overlap with the end of it. Christmas all year round. It is not a new concept, but I can't say that I don't enjoy seeing the lights up at night. On the other hand though sometimes it is nice to have it dark at night, see the moon and stars from the hottub or pool. Summer is a holiday too, at least as a kid it is. Well until they invented "year round" school. See now I am doing it too, I'm thinking about summer before winter has really started.

Went out to watch my cousin's football game. He is the second string varsity quarter back. He played the second half. Pretty good considering he is only a freshmen. It just happened that I also had a chance to go sailing too earlier that day. I've never been that excited to go that slow. I had the record at just over six knots. This morning I tried to surf, my first time. I got up and could balance pretty well. Wasn't very big of waves though. I think I will be doing more of that. Thanks to John, Rach, and Chip for letting us stay with them. If their place was as messy as mine, we wouldn't have had any room to sleep. It gives me a reason to clean up when I get home.

Not even sure if I'm going to get any sleep before I start to drive. On the bright side, more photos of my room soon!

It is about time to pack up the car and start the long journey once again. I can't really even make an estimate to how much stuff I will bring with me. I don't know if I will take more stuff than I brought, or less stuff than I brought. Life is funny like that.

My room here at home is pretty clean, but other than hanging around the house and going to eat I didn't do much today. Watched some O.C., some South Park, Desperate Housewives, some Office, and a little bit of American Dad. Good day, ready to party the rest of the weekend! Or maybe just take it easy. Who knows?

It is not fast enough though, small direct drive two stroke powered. Kart built in the UK, the Viper body is pretty funny when you pop the top and sit in it.

Hard work to get started...

Seven Layers of Hell and an Amber Boch, good start.

I can now make it to the back of my closet. Found some interesting stuff I had forgotten about. I know its not "clean" yet, but I really will finish it by friday. I would keep working on it, but I have a lot of other work which has to be done before Monday and Wednesday. Now it is time to relax a bit, I am exhausted.

Filming footage for tomorrow's presentation with my group at the local golf course. I think i found a new hobby, drinking beer and driving golf carts.

I'm going out to get some lunch and return I Heart Huckabee's. Tonight I'm going out for another 21st birthday bash, hopefully this one will be just as crazy but not as much drama as the last. Nothing beats my birthday bash in Vegas last year though, if you found the memory card with the photos please email me a copy of them.

Frenchy turned twenty-one, highlights (if you can call them that) of him for the evening would be loudly whispering to me "she's a big girl... ...she heard me huh?" referring to a large chested girl talking to us, falling down a 2 or 3 foot curb face first, getting kicked out of one bar and kicking a garbage can after I let him go on his way out causing two nearby bouncers to yell profanities and start to chase him down until we calmed them down, going in to the last bar and sitting down his elbow knocked over an amp which also took out a cello and caused half the people in the bar who were related to the band to want to beat him down, after leaving that bar punching a metal street sign and getting a big gash on one of his fingers, getting blood from his finger on everyone else around him and not even noticing he is bleeding at all, plus a lot of other things... ...and there was the random drunk dude who tried to start something with me, I pushed him aside and kept walking, then ten seconds later he's in a fight with everyone else, alcohol makes people act funny.

Not only has it been a long day, but this whole week was pretty tiring, but tomorrow is my last real weekday of the week. This week I rediscovered how much I enjoy music yet again. Maybe I will review the various music hardware / software / services that I'm looking at and trying right now and in the next few days. Actually no, I'm not that bored, but if I like your product I might give a shoutout to you. Tonight, I made pasta, it tasted pretty bland. Starting tomorrow I'm going experiment with new things to cook. Friday should be fun, I need to catch up on some sleep too. Nothing I have written today, both on here and other places seems to make sense to me when I go back and look it over.

When you are a mile above sea level, running is quite a chore. I am ready for a nap, but first I will take a nice relaxing shower. By the way, I had made major progress on my room, but I started to slack and it started to fade back in to that "watch where you step" category. I am confident that by Friday I will have some photos of a nice pristine spotless room for posting here.

We went to The Office, and there might be some gaps in the storyline, this is just the things I remember, but I don't have like blank spots in my memory, just it was a long night. So I had a Guinness and sliders, which is a pretty good deal at $4.00, if you get like any other beer its $3.00 for it and sliders. Sliders are little mini burgers by the way. The first ten minutes of the hour at 8 and 9 are one dollar Jager shots, had one with Niels at 8. Ordered another Guinness and hot wings (boneless, cost a bit more than the normal 4 wings for a dollar, but it is less of a pain to eat and they taste better). Then Niels ordered two Screaming Nazis, and Kyle didn't want the one put in front of him, so I offered to take it. The bartender, she said it was Thursday so it was okay to have a few more beers. She gave Mikey some free samples of Beer he hadn't tried, but she cut him off from the samples when he asked for a sample of Malibu. Can't remember if I had anything besides Guinness in between that Screaming Nazi and the drink in the picture, a Leg Spreader. It was a rather large shot, and it didn't taste bad. But I just looked up what's in it, see below. I'm actually surprised, it didn't seem to bad, but as far as that drink goes, that's the most unoriginal drink I've heard of. I'd like to thank my brother for picking up my tab (Mikey you know the joke), Niels for taking some shots with me and for smoking constantly, that was great, my liver will be shot and I will have cancer, Mikey for providing excellent entertainment, and Chris for driving.

Leg Spreader (as made by Jessica)
Ingredients:
* Rumple Minze
* Southern Comfort
* Bacardi 151
Mixing instructions:
Mix in glass and enjoy