May 23, 2004
November 27, 2003
what i'm thankful for
down in reno for thanksgiving. drove down past mt shasta yesterday. i should have fueled up in shasta because the next two gas stations were closed. i ended up sleeping in the truck in old fort, ca thinking the gas station would open in the morning. i didn't. i finally got to use that aaa card.
on the way down i got to listen to the surprise announcement that bush made a secret trip to iraq for thanksgiving dinner with the troops. one commentator was explaining how bush had gone there to show that iraq wasn't as dangerous as is commonly thought. the hole in that theory is obvious when they discuss the security precautions taken: landing with no lights, not announcing the trip until after he'd already left... i hope he at least got some new photos to use in his campaign ads now that all the ones in front of the mission accomplished banner don't seem so appropriate any more.
oh, a quick bush is a moron bit that my brother might like. bush visited nevada last week, unfortunately he just couldn't seem to pronounce it correctly.
November 05, 2003
calling all portland single speeders
this saturday, nov 8th, one speed revolution presents: NOISE (Northwest Onespeed International Solidarity Event) where all us portlanders that couldn't make it to the single speed world championships in australia get togther and ride bike.
meet up at noon at the north portland bike works/the fresh pot (they're right next door to each other on n. mississippi & shaver) then ride to the super-secret rally point for the off-road riding.
the second rally point is at the jockey club (1001 n killingsworth) that evening. there'll be feats of strength, prizes, and most importanly: $1 papst blue ribbons.
no single speed? no problem we'll tape your shifter in place. so bring a good attitude it's gonna be fun.
September 02, 2003
one for the neil patrick stevenson file
while i was out on the playa i re-read neil stevenson's zodiac. it's a great read and it got me thinking about what an amazing author he is. today i came across this article in wired about a cdrom set that will teach you to read the small emotional tells.
Ekman [the creator of the cdroms] knows emotions and expressions. He has spent nearly 50 years studying them and has trained police officers, judges and lawyers, as well as FBI, CIA and ATF forces to detect deception in the faces of criminal suspects. He also has worked with Pixar animators and Industrial Light and Magic technicians to help them craft facial expressions in movie characters.
He was a pioneer in the study of facial expression and emotions in the 1950s, when many of his colleagues felt he was wasting his time.
it sounded very similar to the juanita character's focus on facial expressions in snowcrash.
June 14, 2003
freeway art
as part of portland's rose festival they've blocked off the park block in front of my building and setup an arts festival. krista and i wandered through it on friday to check out the stuff. one artist in particular really caught my eye. john margaris started working as an electrical engineer but got laid off and decided to go to california and become a painter. he did a series of paintings of abstract highways based on parts of his daily commute.
go check out some of his paintings. i'll warn you though, the website is a bit clunky and the photos of the paintings really don't do them justice. if i had the grand and a half to buy one of his pieces, i'd do it in a second. humm maybe i ought to try to trade him a website for a painting...
April 10, 2003
February 21, 2003
encyclopedia britannica
oh, if anyone else is looking at getting anything britannica use the promtional code NEWBCD.
February 05, 2002
rc3 had a link to
rc3 had a link to a story about the guy in the levis comercial that played durring the superbowl.
riding back from rocksport tonight i realized that i'm finally comfortable with the cold again. it helps that the weather has gotten better in the last week but either way i don't really mind riding around at night anymore.
February 03, 2002
i just finished reading this
i just finished reading this essay in parameters, the us army war college quarterly and it's probably one of the most insightful assesments of us foreign policy. i'd recommend that everyone take the time to read it.
i watched the superbowl with my mom, i watched the play offs with james and ended up rooting for the patriots so i was really glad i got to see them win. as for the commercials that the levis' one with the dancing ganster was probably my favorite.
January 27, 2002
some guy who works for
some guy who works for aol has put up an opinion piece that may have a bit of truth to it but his opinion of the new verion of the browser itself are way off.
blogger pro
well i just signed up for blogger pro and it's pretty cool. i've used the service for over a year and i'm happy to pay for it. at $30 a year it's a deal and i'm happy to support them. my only gripe is that it doesn't work with anything but ie 5. allegedly that'll be fixed soon.
March 01, 2001
Bicycling directions from Sacramento to Santa Cruz
I rode this the route in 1999 so quite a bit may have changed, use it at your own risk. The route leaves from downtown Sacramento following State Highway 160 South.
Sacramento
- Take 19th St south, eventually it merges with 21st St but it's marked as 160 through most of town.
- Hwy 160 follows the river and crosses it a couple of times and there's always a farm road on the other side of the river. Each time it switches sides I'd recomend crossing to the opposite side to avoid the trafic.
- Along the way 160 merges with 84 till you get to Antioch so you might see it marked as either Antioch/Brentwood
- The bridge over the delta/river is a pretty long pull but you get a nice ride down, don't worry there's plenty of shoulder room and they probably won't make you pay the toll.
- get off on the 1st exit (I think you have to) take a left under the bridge and a right infront of the dupont plant. I believe this puts you on Highway 4. (this part is sort of bad i didn't take very good notes)
- Head southeast (left) on 4, it might be called Main St. follow it to Cypress St.
- Left on Cypress St to Sellers Ave
- Right on Sellers Ave. Follow it a mile or two to Marsh Creek Rd.
- Right onto Marsh Creek Rd. and go one block to Walnut Ave.
- Left on to Walnut Ave, Vasco Rd will branch off to the left.
- Follow Vasco Rd get ready for fun, it's a pretty hefty grade and hopefully it won't be windy when you ride it but the hills are covered with wind mills for a reason.
Livermore to Milpitas
- Stay on Vasco Rd till it comes to the freeway
- Right onto Sunflower Ct
- Left onto Bluebell Dr
- Left onto First St (Hwy 84) when Bluebell Dr ends
- Left onto Holmes (Hwy 84) when First St ends
- now hwy 84 alternates between shouldered an un, but it seems to be the return on the PE you invested in Vasco Rd, after a little up hill (with out much sholder) it's clear sailing.
- 84 turns into Interstate 680 so get off on the first exit (it's marked that bikes aren't allowed before the exit but since there's no place to go ignore it)*
- Turn left going under the interstate. Get onto Calavaras Rd.
- Stay on Calaveras Rd for a while, its a gorgeous strech so enjoy it soon enough you'll be in the Bay Area Sprawl.
- Calaveras Rd comes to a T turn right onto East Calaveras Rd, it'll take you past a golf course into Milpitas
*Comming back I found a route that avoided the Hwy84/I680 portion and went through Pleasonton then on the bike lane along Stanley Blvd into Livermore. I didn't take notes but it was flat and had plenty of space to ride on. Eventually I'll find the map I used and update this with that info.
Milpitas
- Find Capitol Ave (sometimes called Capitol Expressway) heading south. It's between I680 and I880. Get on Abel St and head south it'll cross it. You'll be on Capitol Ave for quite a while before you come to Alum
- Right onto Berryessa Rd
San Jose
- Stay on Berryessa Rd for a while.
- It should turn into Heading (I'm pretty sure it does but I also seem to remember it forking so you might want to ask a cop to doublecheck these directions) which turns into Pruneridge.
- follow Pruneridge to Saratoga and
- left onto Saratoga. It's Hwy 9, so stay on it all the way into Santa Cruz.
