I finally went to the Carlos Club in San Carlos. Yikes.
I went to a newish club in San Francisco. The name escapes me. I met the owners. It was cool. The logo looked like a fancy H. Any ideas?
I went to Los Angeles for a weekend. It was awesome. The traffic was light and the sun was out. I saw Russell Peters running down Wilshire Boulevard. Cool. I hung out a lot at Hermosa Beach where the beers were $1 at an awesome place called Dragon Bar. You should definitely check it out. It's always weird staying at a friend of a friend's place, but the woman was very nice and accommodating. One night was spent at UCSB. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the campus. I only saw the bar scene which was... typical.
I have seen lots of movies recently. Knocked Up was hilarious. Pirates 3 was great... during the second half. 28 Weeks Later was decently entertaining. Blades of Glory was decently funny. Ocean's 13 was pretty good. Die Hard 4 was awesome. Transformers was really good and really bad simultaneously. I can't wait to see Harry Potter 5.
Vandelay Ventures is making progress. The Viddyou investment finally went through. Go Viddyou.
After living in Sunnyvale I moved into Brian's house for a month in San Jose while I continued to look for apartments. I had a lot of fun living there even though my room was small and I was living out of boxes. Now, I have my own place in Mountain View. It's... decent. Old, but decent. I've spent lots of time organizing/cleaning up. Soon, it will be presentable. Perhaps a house warming party is in order? Yeah baby.
I guess I never wrote about my second trip to Vegas. My friend Abby flew in from Virginia which was awesome. We stayed at the Tropicana (yes I know but it was amazingly cheap and the hotel is in a great location). There were some good moments on the trip. Other moments were just annoying and obnoxious. I look forward to my third trip to Vegas which will hopefully be made this summer.
I bought these shoes. I'm happy.
I bought the iPhone. It's awesome. For videos during my time in the line and store, check out my Viddyou page.
The Office season finale was great. I can't wait for season four. It looks like Pam and Jim may finally get together.
My Powerbook G4 will be 5 years old next month. Amazing.
I bought some rollerblades. I'm happy. My commute from Brian's place to work required a method faster than walking but slower than a car.
Why does this country care so much about Paris Hilton? Ugh. Every time I see her face it angers me.
Fearless is an amazing movie. Jet Li's "last" movie was thoroughly entertaining. It had a very typical become the best lose everything return to fundamentals win everything plot but it was well done.
Version 3 of my web presence is approaching. My superblog is going to be sweet. Pictures, videos, and text all in one place.
I burned my finger on a Foreman Grill. I know. Pathetic.
Wow. My lack of blogging in the last two months has created some hostility. Cool!
It's funny because I've actually been carrying around a little Moleskin for jotting down thoughts I have that should be placed in this blog. I guess I should type them up...
Well, we are an LLC. Congratulations to my team! www.vandelayventures.com We are working on some things, and talking to some people. Vague? You better believe it. I'll tell you all more when we pass the non disclosure stage. I am extremely excited.
I have been invited to be a writer for TheDailyGeek.tv. Woohoo! The site's focus is products and services for the ultra chic geek lifestyle. Check it out.
I discovered the coolest bar ever: The Swinging Door Bar. It's in San Mateo. Yes you read that correctly. It's also known as the Dueling Piano Bar. Basically, there are two pianos facing each other, and the two pianists take requests from the audience. However, if you don't like the song currently being played, you pay the other pianist to play a different song. It goes back and forth with increasing dollar amounts each turn. There was a song everyone was really into so I naturally interrupted the song to get the maximum number of "boos." Awesome. I had a wonderful time while celebrating Ricky's future success and school acceptance. Definitely check out this bar. The pianists are hilarious and htey know how to get a crowd going.
I discovered an amazing new service called Jott.com. It has literally changed my life. I'm not sure how profitable it is, but it sure is impressive. Here's the question: These days what do you always have on you? Wallet, keys, and... cell phone. The cell phone can be used for so much more than just making phone calls to people. What about computers? You sign up for Jott and get a phone number to call. When you hear the beep you start talking. The service records your message, converts it to text, and emails you the transcript! Simple right?! It's amazing. I love it. The best use I've found is whenever I hear a cool song I call Jott and say some lyrics I hear. Then when I get home I Yahoo! Search the lyrics, find out the name of the song, and buy it from iTunes. Great process. With a service like Jott you can always make notes that will be there when you get home. I'm surprised there aren't more useful services that are built around constant access to the cell phone.
Another cool service I discovered to use as a time waster is StumbleUpon.com. You can choose what kind of videos you want to see, and the service will automatically show you relevant videos from Youtube, Myspace, and Metacafe. Definitely check it out but have a clock close by so you don't waste too much time. ;)
I saw Dana Carvey at San Jose Improv. Absolutely hilarious. It was a workshop which means he was trying out jokes for his upcoming HBO special. He had notes and after each joke he would comment on how the audience responded. After his material was through he asked the audience what we wanted to hear. Someone quickly yelled out "church lady!" Afterwards, I yelled out "Schwarzenegger" since I remember Carvey doing the Hanz and Franz routines on Saturday Night Live. Luckily, Carvey heard me and went into a Governator routine. Go me. Hell yes.
I received my first hacking lesson. I had no idea how ridiculously easy it is to see what people are IMing on nearby networks. It's really scary. Also, if you aren't using SSL for email, watch out. People can see that too using free, easy to use software. Do you have Comcast? HOLY SHIT. Talk about ridiculous. Everything happening in nearby homes is coming into your home. Everything you do in your home is going into nearby homes. You better believe it baby. If you hook up a computer in between the wall and your cable modem, you can see all the traffic in nearby homes. To me this is shocking.
For the first time in my life I went to a midwest style club. It was terrifying. The place is in San Jose and it's called Rodeo Club. I had no idea the obesity problem was so bad until that night. However, the music was upbeat and entertaining. Girls love to line dance, and I thoroughly enjoy watching it. Haha. Oh and there were lots of tattoos too.
The last service I'm going to discuss is Viddyou.com. It's a complete solution for video blogging. If you have a webcam, this is it. The interface is beautiful and efficient. Everyone I demonstrate the service to is shocked to see how easy it is to use. You click Record and boom your live image appears in the browser window. Definitely check it out. They opened to the public last Monday, and they have already been covered on TechCrunch and ArsTechnica.
Especially good recent Netflix movies: Rocky Balboa - Rocky was surprisingly kind and generous throughout the movie. I enjoyed that. Chasing Amy - AMAZING. You must see this movie. Save the Tiger - Jack Lemmon, 1974 Academy Award winning performane. Charade - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn. Wonderful. The Breakfast Club - Yes, I finally saw this movie. Sixteen Candles - Awwww what a sweet movie. Prestige - Extremely entertaining. Gridiron Gang - The Rock's performance was impressive, and the teamwork was touching.
That's it. I think I'm going to the OC this week. Giddy up.
Goodman: "Do you see a replay in what happened in the lead-up to the war with Iraq -- the allegations of the weapons of mass destruction, the media leaping onto the bandwagon?"
Clark: "Well, in a way. But, you know, history doesn't repeat itself exactly twice. What I did warn about when I testified in front of Congress in 2002, I said if you want to worry about a state, it shouldn't be Iraq, it should be Iran. But this government, our administration, wanted to worry about Iraq not Iran. "I knew why, because I had been through the Pentagon right after 9/11. About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, "Sir, you've got to come in and talk to me a second." I said, "Well, you're too busy." He said, "No, no." He says, "We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, "We're going to war with Iraq? Why?" He said, "I don't know." He said, "I guess they don't know what else to do." So I said, "Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?" He said, "No, no." He says, "There's nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq." He said, "I guess it's like we don't know what to do about terrorists, but we've got a good military and we can take down governments." And he said, "I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."
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